The St. Thomas Aquinas College Field Hockey team's 2019 postseason journey began with a showdown against Adelphi University in the Northeast-10 Women's Field Hockey Tournament Quarterfinals on November 5th at Motamed Field in Garden City, NY.
After posting a regular season record of 9-9 (7-7 NE10), the Spartans were the #7 seed in the NE10 tournament, facing off with the #2 seed Adelphi University (14-4 overall, 12-2 NE10) to open the postseason. The teams faced each other one time during the 2019 regular season, with STAC falling to the Panthers 4-1 on September 17th. The match-up, held at Spartan field, saw the Spartans strike first on a Lisa Larsson first quarter tally. However, Adelphi would strike four consecutive times on goals by Danielle Kempf (1st Qtr.), Danielle Powers (2nd Qtr.), Elissa Frein (3rd Qtr.) and Allie Laird (4th Qtr.) to capture the victory.
In Tuesday's quarterfinal contest, both squads played a largely even opening thirty minutes, as the Panthers and Spartans each took six shots apiece, with STAC goalie Suzanne Clarke having to make four saves and Adelphi netminder Stephanie Peragallo making two stops. The scoreboard remained all zeros as the teams retreated to their respective benches for halftime.
After the break, it would be Adelphi University who would strike first, as off of a turnover by the Spartans, Bianca Bachisin would make a hard slap pass to teammate Kaylee Deleva, who would take a shot toward the Spartan net. The ball would subsequently roll past goaltender Suzanne Clarke and be put home by Elissa Frein for her 11th of the season, giving the Panthers a 1-0 lead with just under four minutes remaining in the third quarter. The slim margin would stand true as the buzzer would sound to end the stanza.
The visiting Spartans would battle to even things up in the fourth quarter, and would do so a little over six minutes into the final period of regulation, when Lisa Larsson would fire a shot toward the Adelphi cage and in an ensuing net-mouth scramble teammate Lotte Strijbos would poke the ball past goalie Stephanie Peragallo to even things at one goal apiece. The score would remain deadlocked through the final nine minutes forcing overtime to decide the quarterfinal match-up.
In the first overtime, each team would get their fair share of opportunities to end the game, with Adelphi getting the better of the chances. However, it would be the stingy Spartan defense and superb goaltending of Suzanne Clarke that would keep the score even through the first ten minutes of the extra session.
After a quick breather, the teams would return to the field for the second overtime period. Again, it would be the home team Panthers that would get a slew of quality chances to end the match, but it would be the STAC backend and goalie Clarke that would come up huge to keep the game even. The game-winning goal would come with just under two minutes remaining, as off of a Lotte Strijbos penalty corner, Briannah Thorne would fire a backhand shot past Adelphi keeper Peragallo for her 13th of the season, giving St. Thomas Aquinas the 2-1 sudden-death victory.
STAC goalie Suzanne Clarke (W, 9-9) made 18 saves on the afternoon, while her counterpart in the Adelphi net, Stephanie Peragallo (L, 9-3) made 8 saves.
Adelphi held large margins in both shots, 31-18 and penalty corners, 20-8 for the game.
Watch Briannah Thorne's Game-Winning Double Overtime Goal vs. Adelphi
St. Thomas Aquinas took their 2-1 triumph and advanced to the Northeast-10 Conference Semifinals to face the #3 seed Southern New Hampshire University (16-3), just 3 days later. STAC faced SNHU one time during the 2019 regular season, falling to the Penmen 2-1 in overtime on October 12th. The match-up, held in Manchester, NH, saw the Spartans strike first on a Lisa Larsson first quarter tally. However, Southern New Hampshire would even things up at one goal apiece on an Emily Campbell goal three minutes later. The teams would remain off of the scoreboard until 4:13 into OT, when Laura van der Doorn would capitalize on a pass from teammate Helene Servais to give the Penmen the victory.
In the Friday night (November 8th) matchup at Larkin Field in Manchester, the Penmen were able to get on the stat sheet first, as Helene Servais scored what proved to be the game-winner 5:29 into the opening frame when she hammered home a feed from sophomore Emily Campbell off a penalty corner to make it 1-0 SNHU. The slim one-goal margin would stand through the final 9:31 of the stanza.
The second quarter would see Southern New Hampshire extend their lead to four on the strength of goals by Meaghan Wile (Assist: Lisa Hagel) at 22:52, Laura van der Doorn (Assist: Helene Servais) at 24:57 and Helene Servais' second of the game (Unassisted) at 26:42. The Penmen would take the 4-0 advantage into halftime.
No further scoring would take place by either squad through the final thirty minutes of play, giving #3 seed Southern New Hampshire the 4-0 shutout victory and a berth into the Northeast-10 Tournament Final against #1 seed Saint Anselm College.
Spartan keeper Suzanne Clarke (L, 9-10) made 8 stops on the evening, while across the field in the Penmen goal, Melanie Rennie (W, 17-3) made 7 saves.
SNHU held a 20-10 shots advantage and a 9-3 edge in penalty corners for the game.
St. Thomas Aquinas College closed their spectacular 2019 season with a record of 10-10 overall and 7-7 in the NE10.
In recognition of an outstanding campaign, the Spartans received several awards and accolades from the Northeast-10 Conference, including:
Northeast-10 Field Hockey All-Conference Awards:
Briannah Thorne (2nd Team)
Lisa Larsson (All-Rookie Team)
Northeast-10 Academic Honor Roll:
4.00 Academic Excellence
Jessie Hohenstein
3.50-3.99 Academic Distinction
Meaghan Burke
Suzanne Clarke
Kerry Conlon
Taylor Hickey
Lisa Larsson
Brittany Lionarons
Meghan McCarren
Arielle Rodriguez
Lotte Strijbos
Briannah Thorne
3.00-3.49 Academic Honors
Lauren Cooper
Kaitlyn Gutenberger
Caroline McGowan
Northeast-10 Academic All-Conference Honors:
Suzanne Clarke
Briannah Thorne