Field Hockey
NCAA Third Round
#4 Bowdoin 4, #3 Lebanon Valley 3 (OT)
Box Score
BRUNSWICK, Maine - An incredible defensive stand carried #3 Lebanon Valley into overtime, but Ingrid Oelschlager scored 11:39 into the extra period to send #4 Bowdoin to the national semifinals with a 4-3 win in NCAA Third Round on Sunday.
Bowdoin (18-1) will meet #5 Skidmore in one semifinal next weekend; #1 Messiah will play #2 Ursinus in the other at Christopher Newport University.
LVC finishes 19-3 overall, and falls in overtime of the national quarterfinals for the second straight year. The Dutchmen sustained 26 Polar Bear shots while taking a season-low five, and held off a 10-1 second-half shots advantage as they came back to tie the game at 3-3.
Christine Poletti had a career-high 15 saves for LVC;
Lauren Seidenstricker had a defensive save, her sixth of the year, to set an LVC single-season record.
Jocelyn Novak,
Cait Eckenrode, and
Marisa Maxwell all scored for LVC, and
Kelsey Miller had two assists. Senior
Shelly Lobach also had a helper, the 45th of her career, to finish as LVC's all-time assists leader. Novak's goal was her 39th of the year, the second-highest season goal total in Division III history.
Like LVC's 5-4 win over Cortland on Saturday, the game appeared to be a shootout early on as the sides combined for five first-half goals.
Oelschlager opened with a penalty stroke at 14:51, shooting low and left just past Poletti, but Novak bounced back to tie it just two minutes later off Miller's assist.
Kassey Matoin and Emily French scored two in quick succession to give the Polar Bears a 3-1 lead in the 26th minute before Eckenrode pulled one back before the half, redirecting Miller's corner blast at 28:34 to make it 3-2 at the half.
LVC attacked out of the break and equalized six minutes in when
Marisa Maxwell got it out of a scramble to level it at 3-3.
From there, the LVC defense had to endure almost constant pressure, turning aside eight shots and six corners after Maxwell's goal. The Dutchmen did not take a shot for the final 28:20 of regulation or in overtime.
In overtime, Bowdoin missed three quick chances, but connected on Elizabeth Clegg's 82nd-minute corner as she went out for Oelschlager, who shot low and to the corner to win it.
Bowdoin led 26-5 on shots and 7-1 on corners. Emily Neilson had one save to earn the win.
Game Notes
It was the second straight year LVC went to overtime in the NCAA Third Round after losing to Messiah 3-2 last year ... It was LVC's 10th overtime NCAA game ... LVC is 4-6 in NCAA overtime games ... Novak scored for the 13th consecutive game ... She has 11 career NCAA tournament goals ... Her 39 goals are the second-most in a season in Division III history (and most since 1984), and 84 points is fourth-most ... LVC and Bowdoin were playing for the second time in the NCAA Tournament. Bowdoin beat LVC 1-0 in the 2007 national semifinals on the way to their undefeated national title ... Coincidentally, the last time LVC was held to five shots in a game was against Bowdoin in that 2007 semifinal ... Senior Marisa Maxwell came off the bench to score three goals in two NCAA games, including Saturday's late winner ... Sophomore Kelsey Miller, a back who doesn't usually find her way into the points column, finished a fine postseason that saw her have a goal and two assists ... Senior Cait Eckenrode also finished her career on a hot streak with five goals in her final eight games, including two this weekend.
