Field Hockey
NCAA Second Round (at Bowdoin College)
#3 Lebanon Valley 5, #14 SUNY Cortland 4
Box Score
BRUNSWICK, Maine - Senior
Marisa Maxwell scored with 4:29 remaining in the game to break a 4-4 tie and send #3 Lebanon Valley into the NCAA Third Round with a 5-4 win over #14 SUNY Cortland at Bowdoin College on Saturday.
The Dutchmen (19-2) will face the host Polar Bears Sunday at 1 p.m. for the right to go to the NCAA final four, which will be held at Christopher Newport University in Virginia next weekend. It is LVC's second straight trip to the NCAA Third Round and seventh overall.
The back-and-forth game turned into a shootout as the sides combined for nine goals and 49 shots, and the game was tied four differnet times. Maxwell's winner was one of two for her in the second half;
Jocelyn Novak,
Cait Eckenrode, and
Shelly Lobach also scored for LVC.
Cortland (16-5) struck just 1:56 into the game when Sara Woodward dodge two backs and scored, but Novak tied it at 4:08 with her 38th goal of the year, surpassing Messiah's Danae Chambers' Commonwealth Conference record of 37 in a season.
The Dragons struck back with Brenda Semit's tally at 14:08 before Eckenrode picked it out of a scramble to score in the 29th minute, but Semit slotted a pass from Erin Smith in 23 seconds before the half to send Cortland into the break up 3-2.
LVC pushed out of the half and retook the lead with two quick goals, first as Lobach buried a rebound at 42:23, and then on Maxwell's go-ahead two minutes later. Woodward leveled for the final time at 48:38 with a hard shot to the far post.
That set the stage for a wild finish as both teams had plenty of chances at each end, but it would be Maxwell who would break through as she put in her own rebound to score at 65:31. Not out of the woods,
Christine Poletti would have to turn aside two last-second Cortland shots to preserve the lead.
LVC led 31-18 on shots, while Cortland was up 11-9 on corners. Poletti had nine saves, while Ashley Hughes made 13 for Cortland.
Game Notes
Novak extended her consecutive game scoring streak to 12 ... She now has 10 career NCAA goals, sixth all-time in tournament history ... It was the second time LVC had faced Cortland in the NCAA Tournament; the Dragons won in strokes, 1-0, in 1999 to advance to the final four ... LVC and Bowdoin have met once before, in the 2007 Final Four at Ursinus, when Bowdoin won 1-0 en route to an undefeated national title ... LVC has been to four final fours: 1996, 1997, 2006, and 2007 ... All four of LVC's goals were unassisted, only the second time this year Lebanon Valley has been held without an assist.
