Field Hockey falls to #8 Lebanon Valley in NCAA Tournament
The #8 ranked Lebanon Valley Dutchman scored three unanswered goal in the opening lifting them past the New England College Pilgrims 6-0 in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament on Wednesday. With the loss the Pilgrims end their season with a record of 17-5 overall. With the win the Dutchman will advance to face Middlebury College in regional action on Saturday at Bowdoin.
The Dutchman would come out on the attack recording six shots in the opening ten minutes but the Pilgrim defense would come up huge as keeper Mary Roux (Auburn, Mass.) would come up with three saves and defender Holly Soule (Littleton, N.H.) would record a defensive save. Lebanon Valley’s Danielle Blase would finally break through tipping in a pass from Jocelyn Novak at the 11:27 mark. The Dutchman would extend their lead to 2-0 quickly as Novak would control the ensuing face-off and take it in for her 30th goal of the season. Lebanon Valley would tack on another goal at the 14:20 mark and hold the Pilgrims to just two first half shots heading into halftime up 3-0.
The Dutchman would continue to control much of the offense in the second half of play as Novak would net two goals in the opening ten minutes to give Lebanon Valley the 5-0 lead. Lebanon Valley would tack on another goal just minutes later at the 11:57 mark in the second building the 6-0 lead. The Pilgrim defense would continue to play hard in the second half holding the Dutchman to just the three early scores. NEC’s offense would struggle all afternoon against an extremely tough Lebanon Valley defense as the Pilgrims were out shot 35-3 on the afternoon and held scoreless through 70 minutes of play.
In goal for the Pilgrims was Mary Roux who finished with 21 saves on the afternoon.
