Field hockey defeats UMass in double overtime to claim A-10 title
The St. Joe’s field hockey team went into the Atlantic 10 tournament as the number one seed and came out of it in the same position.
The Hawks beat the fourth-seeded University of Richmond Spiders, 7-2 in the semifinal match and went on to capture the A-10 title against second-seeded University of Massachusetts in a dramatic double-overtime win, 3-2.
After an 18-3 regular season record that included a win against defending national champion, the University of Delaware, the Hawks will enter their first NCAA tournament in program history according to SJU Athletics.
Head Coach Lynn Farquhar is not surprised with the success that the 2017 squad has had so far.
“We knew we had potential,” Farquhar said. “We also knew it would be a long road ahead, but this group has come together so well. They get along with each other, they love the sport and they love competing with each other. You never know what will happen when you set that vision, but they jumped on board and really created it, and it’s been a fun process.”
The A-10 tournament started out shaky for the St. Joe’s when they found themselves down 2-0 against Richmond in the first 16 minutes of the match. The Spiders handed the Hawks their only conference loss of the season on Oct. 1 in a close 1-0 game.
“The group was on a mission, and they knew that they had to capitalize against Richmond,” Farquhar said. “It was a team we faced before, we knew we were going to face some frustration and challenges in tournament time.”
The Hawks made the comeback, but they didn’t stop at two, scoring seven unanswered goals throughout the rest of the game.
Junior Anna Willocks started off the scoring for the Hawks 26 minutes into the game off of an assist from sophomore Kathrin Bentz. Willocks found the back of the cage again just two minutes later off of a penalty stroke to tie the game at 2-2 before the half.
“We had plenty of games in the regular season where we came back from being down, so we just looked to each other as a team and worked to get those goals back,” Willocks said. “Once they started coming, it flowed.”
With the second half came five goals; a hat trick from freshman Quinn Maguire and one goal each from Bentz and freshman Emily Peters sealed the win and a spot in the championship game.
Fittingly, the Hawks took on Massachusetts (13-8) for the A-10 title.
The first half had a lot of action as St. Joe’s outshot UMass 10-1 but neither team could capitalize until the second half when freshman Jordan Olenginski opened the scoring off of a Bentz corner seven minutes in.
Fellow freshman Emily Henry took a long pass from Olenginski and added a goal with just over 11 minutes left in regulation time. The Minutewomen did not let the Hawks have an easy win though. With just over two minutes left to play, UMass’s Lucy Cooper scored off of a corner from Sarah Hawkshaw. This goal was followed by the equalizer with one minute left to play when another corner turned into a goal by UMass’s Georgie McTear to bring the game to overtime.
The Minutewomen had a spark of energy in the first overtime period, outshooting the Hawks 4-2. Sophomore goalkeeper Victoria Kammerinke made two game-saving stops, including a breakaway, to keep the game at a stalemate, bringing the match into double overtime and 85 minutes.
“We have this saying, where we say even if you’re tired, just pretend you’re not,” Willocks said. “At the point of double overtime, we were just so excited to go after it and we know that we’re good at it and can win off of it.”
The second overtime period saw a new energy and four shots from the Hawks and none from the Minutewomen. The fourth shot of the period and the last of the game made history.
Following the lead of two of her freshmen classmates, Peters tipped the ball into back of the cage off of a Willocks assist to give the Hawks their first A-10 title since 1995 in a 3-2 thriller.
“I got the ball and I love my reverse-stick shot so I took it to the outside and tried to hit it at the goal,” Willocks said. “I was just relieved, and it was such an awesome feeling.”
With her performance, Peters was named the Most Outstanding Player of the 2017 Atlantic 10 championship. Willocks, Maguire and Olenginski were honored as part of the All-Championship Team.
“It’s definitely an honor and a really exciting moment,” Peters said. “To have the accomplishment and being a part of the team, having that team bond [is a great feeling].”
With the first A-10 title in over 20 years under their belt, the 17th ranked Hawks now look to compete in the NCAA tournament where they are set to take on fourth ranked and Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Champions, University of North Carolina (16-4).
“Our goal was just to get here [NCAA’s], so we don’t have any expectations,” Peters said. “It’s an awesome experience just being able to be there and it’s been the first time ever, so it’s one of those experiences we have to take in, hope for the best and just go for it.”
The Hawks will take on the North Carolina Tar Heels in Charlottesville, Va. on Nov. 11 at 11:30 a.m. for a spot in the top eight. From there, the winner of the game will take on either the University of Virginia or Princeton University for a berth into the Final Four in Louisville, Ky. on Nov. 17 and 19.
“Going into it, we should have the mindset of playing our Hawk hockey and our simple hockey, and hopefully, the outcome will be in our favor,” Peters said.
