Madison, NJ (September 22, 2006) – The DeSales University field hockey team dropped its 2006 Freedom Conference season opener falling to FDU-Florham, 4-1, on Friday afternoon.

 

        The Devils (5-2, 1-1 Freedom) opened up a 3-0 halftime lead and never looked back.  FDU got on the board at the 9:26 mark on a goal from Jackie Gale, made it 2-0 at the 16:41 mark when Krystale Birmingham scored off an assist from Christina Fabian and increased its lead to three just 3:10 later when Fabian scored on an assist from Debbie Hillman.

 

        Hillman tallied the fourth goal for the Devils late in the second half to make it 4-0 and the Bulldogs (4-3, 0-1 Freedom) avoided the shutout when senior Bethany Hepner (Coopersburg, PA/Southern Lehigh) scored as time expired on a penalty corner.  Junior Jen Pulcini (Easton, PA/Easton) earned an assist on the play.

 

        FDU out-shot DSU by just one, 16-15, but tallied three more goals to record the win.  Each team had 10 penalty corners.  Freshman Molly Pope (Elkridge, MD/Long Reach) stopped seven shots in the loss.