SALISBURY, Md. - The No. 2 Salisbury University
field hockey team advanced to the program's fifth national
semifinal game in the past six years as the Sea Gulls defeated No.
14 Springfield College, 2-1, in front of a crowd of 234 at Sea Gull
Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
Salisbury
(20-1) held off a late rally attempt by the Pride (21-4) who was
awarded a penalty corner in the final seconds of the game. Brittany
Veazie played the ball to Eileen Jenkins who had the ball skip up
and hit her on her arm to end the threat and send the Sea Gulls to
their 10th national semifinal game.
SU coach Dawn Chamberlin notched her 32nd NCAA
tournament victory and has led the Sea Gulls to 19 straight wins
this season.
"Absolutely this is the way we want to end the season," said
Chamberlin about her seniors, who will make a third final four
appearance.
The maroon and gold held a 1-0 advantage after the first 35
minutes of the game as senior Jami Gobao scored in
the closing seconds of the first half to give SU the lead.
Springfield answered quickly in the second half as Veazie
notched her 23rd goal of the season on an unassisted strike to tie
the score at 1-1 in the 40th minute. The goal came off of
Springfield's first penalty corner of the game. This was only the
fourth time SU trailed or was tied in the second half this season.
Senior Danielle Twilley provided the
game-winner in the 60th minute as freshman Kandice
Hancock found her at the top of the circle.
"I couldn't get a good corner off today," said Twilley, who
whiffed on a shot attempt minutes before her goal. "I was taking
some anger out on that [game-winning] shot."
The Sea Gull defense stood strong over the final 10 minutes to
preserve the win.
"We have come so far and definitely deserve this," said senior
back Kortni Pedlow, who made a defensive save in
the second half.
The Sea Gulls outshot the Pride 10-0 in the first half and held
an 18-8 advantage for the game. The maroon and gold had four
penalty corners in the first half and 12 for the game while
Springfield managed seven penalty corners, all in the second half.
Senior goalie Maria Ramoundos made four saves
in the win to improve her record to 20-0 on the year. Emma Kaplan
made nine saves in the loss.
This is the third time SU has entered the national semifinals
with one loss. The two other times (2003 and 2005) the Sea Gulls
claimed the NCAA Division III national title.
The Sea Gulls will play No. 10 Middlebury College on Friday,
November 16, at Eleanor Frost Alumnae Field on the campus of
Ursinus College in Collegeville, Pa. The game time has yet to be
determined. Middlebury defeated No. 5 The College of New Jersey 2-1
on Sunday in another third round game. SU has faced the Panthers
twice in the NCAA tournament, both in national championship games,
and are 2-0.
"It is going to be interesting to see how that game
[Middlebury-TCNJ] broke down," said Chamberlin. "It is tough to
beat a team three years in a row."
