Box Score

The No. 2 seed Wilkes University field hockey team lives to see another day as they defeat No. 7 seed Washington & Jefferson College 2-1 in ECAC Tournament at Artillery Park on Wednesday afternoon. 

 

With the win, the Lady Colonels (18-3) will wait and see who they play in the semifinals of the tournament, while the Presidents (12-8) see their 2008 season come to an end.

 

Wilkes was able to jump out to the early lead at the 14:06 mark of the first half when Jennifer Keegan (Shohola, Pa./Delaware Valley) took a pass from Erica Sundberg (Mullica Hill, N.J./Kingsway) and beat Washington & Jefferson goalie Shelby Colyer to give the Lady Colonels the 1-0 advantage. Wilkes would take the slim margin into the half.

 

“Jen created a lot of opportunities for us today. She was very aggressive and went after the ball,” stated head coach Sara Myers. “Brittany [Sines] also did another excellent job of controlling the middle of the field.”

 

The Lady Colonels were able to pad their lead just four minutes into the second half, when Alyson Paulauskas (Shavertown, Pa./Lake-Lehman) gained control of the ball around midfield and dribbled passed all of the Presidents' defenders and was able to put the ball by the goalie to make it a 2-0 Wilkes edge.

 

However, Washington & Jefferson would not go quietly, constantly pressing the Lady Colonel defense before breaking through for a goal of their own. Laura Peery took a nice pass from outside the arch from Kolbey Seidel at 45:26 and put the ball passed goalie Lindsey Davenport (Dallas, Pa./Dallas) to get the Presidents immediately back in the contest at 2-1.

 

Both teams raced up and down the field and both goalies made a slew of nice saves in front of their own cages over the final twenty minutes, but neither team could add another tally as the score remained 2-1 until the final buzzer sounded.

 

For the game, Wilkes held a 12-10 advantage in shots, while Washington & Jefferson posted a slight 8-7 edge in penalty corners. Davenport stopped five shots in goal for the Lady Colonels to earn the victory, while Colyer made seven saves in the losing effort for the Presidents.

 

“We were lucky because we did not show our best effort today,” added Myers. “In order to be successful in the remainder of the tournament we will definitely need to step-up our level of play.”