ST. DAVIDS, Pa.— Eastern Field Hockey (4-2) trailed 2-0 early in the second quarter but refused to go quietly.
Karlee Howard scored a brilliant reverse stick effort in the 58th minute to force overtime, but after a nearly hour-long lightning delay the visiting Drew University Rangers (5-1) found an overtime winner to earn a 3-2 win.
The guests had the bulk of the play early and Bella Fini scored on either side of the quarter break to put the guests up two. Drew had 10 of the first 12 shots in the match.
Down 2-0, the Eagles pushed forward immediately. Only seconds after Drew scored, Howard halved the lead with her fifth of the year. The goal seemed to sharpen the Eagles' focus and they grabbed an even bigger slice of the game. While the game was mostly in the Ranger''s defensive end, the Eagles mustered only three more shots the rest of the half and went to the break down 2-1.
The second half started with an even more focused Eastern attack. The Eagles earned five third-quarter penalty corners and had several chances in the run of play. In the 33rd minute, Bailey DiGregorio beat the goalie with a shot, but her effort was swept off the line by a Drew defender. In the 37th minute,
CJ Summa had a shot from in deep that was blocked wide by a final defender.
The Eagles had four consecutive corners to end the third and earned quality looks on each. Drew goalie Beth Kelly made three stops in the sequence. The final one, a leaping stop on a Summa chip came on an un-timed corner with the entire Eastern team on the circle creating traffic. The Eagles had a 9-2 edge in third-quarter shots.
The Eagles had a 9-2 edge in third-quarter shots and they carried that momentum to the fourth. Eastern had pressure but did not create a corner chance until th 58th minute. Summa had her effort toward goal hit a stick. Howard collected the rebound, pushed the ball away from her feet and slammed a reverse stick effort just out of Kelly's reach.
The game stopped for lightning only seconds after the overtime started. Out of the break, the Eagles had the first three chances of the period. With the game at seven-aside, the match opened up. The Eagles earned the only penalty corner of overtime, but Summa's shot slipped wide.
The game went endline to endline and fatigue seemed to be kicking in. In the 65th minute,
Morgan Unruh broke behind the Drew defense, but Kelly matched her shot with a good pad save. Kelly was equal to the task on a rebound effort from Howard. Drew finally broke through off a dribbling run on the left side from Fini. She got behind the Eastern back row and earned the circle.
Angelina Catania came out with strength and met Fini with a tough challenge, but the ball slipped through for the winning margin.
It is the second time in two years the Rangers have won late. Last fall, Drew scored on a last-minute penalty corner to win 5-4. The loss snaps a four-match winning streak for the Eagles. Eastern is at Stevens Institute of Technology on Saturday.
