Center Valley, PA (October 21, 2006) – For the second straight game the DeSales University field hockey team fell just short in its upset bid of a nationally ranked team falling to 20th ranked Alvernia College, 4-3, in overtime in a non-conference game on Saturday afternoon.
The Bulldogs (9-8 overall) jumped out to a 1-0 lead when senior Bethany Hepner (Coopersburg, PA/Southern Lehigh) scored just 3:18 into the game on an assist from junior Ashley Sparango (Salfordville, PA/Souderton).
Alvernia answered with the next three goals to build a 3-1 lead. Senior Megan Novogratz scored the first two off assists from Jessie Titus and Lauren Yoder in the first half and then Novogratz assisted on the third as Yoder made it a 3-1 game at the 41:46 mark of the second half.
DSU refused to quit and cut the Crusader (15-2 overall) lead in half at 60:41 on an unassisted goal from sophomore Amanda Deal (Macungie, PA/Whitehall). The goal was Deal’s 14th of the season. Just 1:29 later junior Jen Pulcini (Easton, PA/Easton) tied the game with her 11th goal of the year off a feed from Deal and the game was headed for overtime.
In the overtime, senior Becky Macchione scored the game-winner just 2:10 into the extra period off a feed from Amber Landis and the Crusaders escaped with the win. AC out-shot DSU, 18-14, and each team had eight penalty corners. Freshman Molly Pope (Elkridge, MD/Long Reach) had eight saves for DSU, while Mandy Yocum totaled seven saves for the Crusaders.
DeSales returns to action on Tuesday, when they host Wilkes University in a very important Freedom Conference game beginning at 4:00 pm.
