Sports

Field hockey prevails in marathon

Black Bears win, 2-1 on penalty corners

By Becky Sturtevant

Posted on Oct. 07, 2002, at 12:00 a.m.

JT Tennent

A University of Maine player looks to advance past a Providence College defender in Sunday's win for the Black Bears, the team's ninth in a row.

The Providence field hockey team was dressed in black and ready to attack during Sunday’s match-up with the University of Maine, but it was UMain,e that prevailed with a dramatic 2-1 victory that was determined by penalty strokes.

Both teams had many scoring opportunities, but neither could put the ball in the back of the net during the first half.

Finally, with only 11 minutes remaining in the second half, UMaine’s Tara Bedard broke the scoreless tie on a penalty corner.

UMaine senior Jen Johnstone started the play by taking a hard shot at the top of the circle that sailed up and over the arm of Providence netminder Meaghan Moran. As the ball seemed to be headed wide of the goal, Bedard was waiting at the right post to tip the shot in the air for her eighth goal of the season.

With UMaine holding a one-goal advantage, the Providence Friars needed to step up their game. The offense created more scoring opportunities, but the Friars just couldn’t seem to execute. Finally, with 21.8 seconds remaining the Friars tied the score at 1-1.

A stunned Black Bear team and a large crowd, which included various high school field hockey squads, could only watch as the Friars celebrated on the sideline. As the remaining seconds died down, it became evident that the true test would come in overtime.

Overtime play is exciting in any sporting event, but in field hockey a different look adds to the excitement. Instead of the traditional 11 players on the field, the number is reduced to seven. This makes the pace of the game much faster and tests the team’s physical condition. Also, with the reduced number of players, there are more opportunities for breakaways, and each of the overtime periods showcased plenty of them.

Both 15-minute overtime periods were filled with gasping reactions and screams from the crowd as the ball traveled back and forth across the turf. Each team had its share of breakaways, but once again, there was no scoring. This was in part due to excellent goalkeeping on both ends of the field.

The second overtime expired with no scoring and both teams awaiting a shootout.

In a penalty shootout, each team sends five players to the stroke-line to shoot on the opposing goalkeeper. The Friars scored with their second player, Kara Lukens, scoring on a hard shot to the upper left-hand corner. UMaine tied the score when Rebecca Ouellette scored on a shot that hit the post and bounced in and behind Moran.

After Providence senior Jennifer Chin failed to score, it was up to UMaine junior Karyn Magno to win the game for her team. Magno prepared for her shot and the whistle blew, and a hard shot at Moran went straight to the back of the net allowing Maine to win in penalty strokes 2-1.

The game was emotional for the Black Bears with the visit from former assistant coach Diane Madl. Madl, who is the head coach of the Friars this year, only had complimentary things to say of her former team.

“They have a very bright future ahead of them,” Madl said.

Confidence has been a theme of the Black Bear success, and Madl certainly noticed the difference.

“They are playing with so much confidence right now,” Madl said. “When a team is playing like that, they’re hard to stop.”

This entry was posted on Monday, October 7th, 2002, 12:00 am. You can follow any responses to this article through the RSS feed.