Williams Falls to Messiah in NCAA Field Hockey Quarterfinals

Courtesy Williams Sports Information

GRANTHAM, Pa. - The 2002 Williams Field Hockey season ended today with a 2-0 loss to last year's NCAA runner-up, Messiah College. The Ephs entered today's game on the Messiah home turf after a great win over Wittenberg University yesterday. Messiah entered the tournament ranked 2nd in the nation and the MAC champs, beating Plymouth St. 2-1 yesterday in the 2nd round of NCAA play.

Although coach Alix Rorke felt like her team dominated offensively in the first half of play, they were unable to get by senior Mesiah goalie Kristen Hegar. The first goal of the game came on a tough shot in the circle less than four minutes into play giving Messiah the 1-0 lead. The Ephs held on and did not allow another shot by goalie Wendy Stone for nearly the rest of the game.

With just under 3 minutes remaining on the clock for regulation play, Messiah took hold of another opportunity and scored their second unanswered goal of the meeting. Williams had a chance on a penalty stroke with one minute of play left, but could not find the back of the cage.

At the end of the 70 minutes, Williams out shot Messiah 9-7 and had 8 corners to Messiah's 4. Stone made 1 save and Hegar had 4.

Rorke commented that "Messiah did a nice job defensively, they were a very strong team. We really dominated in the first half, and things were much more back and forth throughout the second half. The senoirs especially made a great effort today, but I guess it just wasn't meant to go in for us. Overall we had an excellent season, really something to be proud of."

The Ephs end their season with an overall record of 15-4.