Williams Falls to Cortland St. in NCAA Field Hockey Tournament
Courtesy Williams Sports Information
CORTLAND, N.Y. - Williams field hockey (14-5) ended their season today with a second-half battle, losing 6-4 to Cortland State (16-2), the 6th ranked team and host of this year's NCAA tournament. Jaye Gregory '06, Tara Boyd '05 and Crista Petrelli '05 combined for the 4 Ephs tallies.
Cortland struck first, showing their aggressive offensive nature early on. Ashley Ostrander crossed to Kelli Johnson at 29:21 for the first goal of the day, followed shortly by another from Cortland at 22:37 off a direct shot from Jessica Ueltschi, assisted by Becky Osier. A corner in favor of the Ephs led to Gregory's goal, as she picked up a rebound and drove the ball past the left post with 11:37 left in the half.
After the halftime break, Cortland came back determined to control their home field, and began an assault on the Williams' back field. Alana LaMorte put two by Wendy Stone '05 at 33:45 and 31:17 off a cross and a scoop shot, respectively. Stone retired after 38:43 in the cage with one save, and was replaced with Jen Steinberg '05. The Dragons jumped into the circle again to score the goal that would become the game-winner when Ostrander got a quick breakaway and crossed to Kelli Johnson at 28:44.
Finding themselves down by 4 goals with 20 minutes to play, the Ephs rallied to score 2 goals in five minutes. Molly Jennings '04 redirected the ball from just outside to Petrelli in the circle at 20:21 to close the gap to 3. Five minutes later, Williams' forwards worked their way back into scoring range, and Tori Scott '04 made a short pass to Boyd down low for a goal at 15:53.
Cortland refused to give up their lead, and scored their six goal with 9:26 left to play to cap their victory when LaMorte crossed to Johnson on the left side. With just 3:11 on the clock, the Ephs continued to push for a comeback as Scott earned another assist with a pass to Petrelli for the final goal. Sadly, the Ephs were unable to bring the score any closer, as the game closed out their 2003 season and 3rd consecutive trip to NCAA post season play.
