St. DAVIDS, Pa.— Eastern University Field Hockey rallied twice but dropped a heartbreaking 3-2 double-overtime loss to the visiting Hood College Blazers in the MAC Commonwealth opener for both teams. The Eagles (7-5, 0-1) earned three penalty corners in 17 and a half minutes of overtime, but the Blazers (6-6, 1-0) earned the win with a well-executed corner.
Though the Blazers controlled much of the play in the early going, solid defending kept the guests on the perimeter. Hood scored in the 11th minute on a low-strike from Madeline Moreno directly off a corner.
Hood had a 9-4 edge in first half shots, but their lead was only 1-0 at the break. Eastern finally broke through as the rain started to come down.
Jenna Reider redirected a
Morgan Unruh cross to tie the game with 17 minutes left in regulation.
Less than a minute later, Hood went back up on a solo effort. Hood had a 9-3 edge in third-quarter shots and a 6-2 advantage in penalty corners.
Unruh leveled the match at 2-2 in the 54th minute as she smacked home a rebound of her own shot after a good pass from Reider.
With both teams playing short, penalty corners in overtime usually create a winner. The Eagles got the first one, but Hood goalie Grace Guy stopped a shot from
CJ Summa.
Then the Eastern defense stood its ground against a pair of Hood corners in the 66th and 67th minutes.
Angelina Catania, who finished with 20 saves, made three of those in the first overtime.
The Eagles had two more corners in the first overtime, but the game remained knotted at 2. As both teams were dipping deep into their energy reserves.
The Eagles had the first penalty corner of the second overtime but could not launch a legal shot. The Blazers found the game-winner on their 30th shot and 15th corner of the match. Moreno smacked home a shot through traffic that slipped just inside the post.
Today was the fourth overtime game of the year for the Eagles. They beat Stockton and Wilkes, but lost to Drew in their other extra-frame games.
The Eagles will look to level their record in the league when they travel to Alvernia on Wednesday. The Golden Wolves dropped their league-opener to Messiah by a 2-0 score.