Field Hockey Falls to Fitchburg State, 1-0, in Strokes
FITCHBURG, Mass. -- Junior Taylor Van Ahnen (Seekonk, MA) matched Fitchburg State’s single game saves record as she led the Falcons to a nail-biting 1-0 penalty stroke victory over Bridgewater State College in Little East Conference action this afternoon.
FITCHBURG, Mass. -- Junior Taylor Van Ahnen (Seekonk, MA) matched Fitchburg State's single game saves record as she led the Falcons to a nail-biting, 1-0 penalty stroke victory over Bridgewater State College in Little East Conference action this afternoon.
Van Ahnen turned in a record book performance, notching 19 saves to keep Fitchburg State on top of the LEC. With her 19 save effort, Van Ahnen etchers her name in the program record books as the junior netminder matched former Falcon, Emily Creen's single game save record from 2007.
Van Ahnen gave Fitchburg State the defensive boost it needed as the Falcons were out-shot 27-17 in the contest. Bridgewater State created several scoring opportunities with 11 shots in the second half and five corners in the second OT period, but Van Ahnen notched eight crucial saves in the extra time to preserve her third shutout of the season.
After two silent regulation periods and two scoreless overtime frames, play moved onto penalty strokes. In the first round of five, the Falcons quickly took a 1-0 lead as junior Mari Roma (Foxborough, MA) capitalized on a Bears' miss and converted her penalty stroke for the early edge.
In the next round, both teams were held scoreless as Van Ahnen and Bears goaltender Katie Weber (Arlington, MA) made clutch stops on their stick side. Bridgewater State evened the score at 1-1 as freshman Carissa Vizakis (Bellingham, MA) found the back of the net in the third round, but Fitchburg State pulled ahead, 2-1 on senior Eleni Aidonidis' (Winchendon, MA) good marker in the fourth series.
In the fifth and final round, junior Torey Van Ahnen (Seekonk, MA) sealed the victory for the Falcons, notching the contest-ending stroke with a wrist shot past Weber into the top-right corner of the cage. Weber turned in a12 save effort for Bridgewater State.
Fitchburg State (8-3, 6-1 LEC) will be in action again on Saturday as it hosts Bridgewater State at 3 p.m. Bridgewater State (6-4, 5-2 LEC) will visit Worcester State College on Monday at 1 p.m.