Worcester, Mass. - The St. Thomas Aquinas College Women's Field Hockey team saw its post-season run come to a close with a 2-1 loss to Assumption University in the Northeast-10 Tournament Quarterfinals in Worcester, Massachusetts. The Spartans' outstanding 2021 season comes to a close with an 8-11 record, while Assumption improves to 18-1 and advances to the NE-10 Semifinals.
In first quarter action, the Greyhounds were able to get on the scoreboard first in the seventh minute of the match, as off of a penalty corner Isabel Primack would take a shot on net, with an initial save being made by Spartans goalie Jessie Hohenstein. In the ensuing netmouth scramble, Summer Walsh would grab the loose rebound and find Deirdre Burchill at the front of the net for a tap-in goal to make it 1-0 Assumption.
Just three minutes later, St. Thomas Aquinas would even things up at one goal apiece on Lauren Cooper's team-leading 11th goal of the season. Hailey Galison would put the ball in play on a penalty corner, finding teammate Olivia Cerbo with a direct feed. Cerbo would then pass the ball off to her left, finding Cooper, who rocketed a shot to the net, past Greyhounds keeper Kylie Gargiulo to make it 1-1.
No scoring would take place in the second quarter, with the teams failing to register a shot, as both defense corps battled to keep each other's top scorers off of the stat sheet to the halftime buzzer.
The match-deciding goal came in the 40th minute of the third quarter, when Kileigh Hynes fired a shot from the top of the circle, with Christina Leonard slipping it past Hohenstein to give Assumption a 2-1 advantage.
No further scoring would take place by either squad through the final twenty minutes of play, giving #1 seed Assumption University the slim 2-1 victory and a berth into the Northeast-10 Tournament Semifinals against #5 seed Pace University on Thursday at Brian Kelly Stadium in Worcester.
Spartans keeper Jessie Hohenstein (L, 8-11) made seven stops on the evening, while across the field in the Greyhounds goal, Kylie Gargiulo (W, 18-1) made two saves.
Assumption held a 12-3 shots advantage and a 9-1 edge in penalty corners for the match.
2021 NE10 Field Hockey Championship Schedule
Monday, Nov. 1
Quarterfinals – at Higher Seeds
Game 1: #8 St. Thomas Aquinas 1/#1 Assumption 2 (Final)
Game 2: #7 New Haven 1/#2 Bentley 0 (Final 2OT)
Game 3: #6 Adelphi 1/#3 Stonehill 0 (Final)
Game 4: #5 Pace 1/#4 Saint Anselm 0 (Final)
Thursday, November 4
Semifinals - at Higher Seeds
Match 5: Assumption vs. Pace
Match 6: New Haven vs. Adelphi
Sunday, November 7
Championship – at Highest Seed
Game 7: Match 5 Winner vs. Match 6 Winner