Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
Sacred Heart
Bucknell Field Hockey Sneaks Past Sacred Heart 4-3 in Strokes
9/25/2010 8:00:00 AM | Field Hockey
Sept. 25, 2010
LEWISBURG, Pa. - Bucknell field hockey recovered from a second-half letdown and dominated in a strokeoff to claim a 4-3 win over Sacred Heart at Graham Field at Holmes Stadium on Saturday afternoon. The Bison (3-5) saw a two-goal lead slip away in the later stages of regulation, but held the Pioneers (1-7) scoreless through two overtimes and did not allow a successful stroke to claim their third win of the season on their home turf.
Sacred Heart took advantage of an extra-man opportunity late in the game, erasing a 3-2 Bucknell lead on a goal by Lindsay Kasten with less than a minute remaining in regulation. That score sent the teams into overtime in their second consecutive meeting. The Bison and Pioneers also played extra minutes when they met last season, although it was Sacred Heart that took a 4-3 decision in 2009.
This year's events went more in Bucknell's favor thanks in part to strong goalkeeping from Sarah Zargarpour (North Vancouver, British Columbia/Handsworth Academy). Zargarpour made some key saves in sudden-victory overtime, including a diving glove stop to kill a Pioneers penalty corner opportunity early in the first overtime.
Play continued at a frenzied pace throughout the two extra periods with strong defense on both sides. Despite fatigue setting in for both teams as the clock worked its way toward 100 minutes, Marci Richard (Oley Valley, Pa./Oley Valley) found a burst of speed in the second overtime to break up a breakaway opportunity for Sacred Heart. The Bison junior kept Kasten from a hat trick at 12:10, beating her to the ball downfield. Richard regained possession for the Bison and play continued.
Bucknell also got some help from the net post late in the game. Karly Duven saw her scoring opportunity at 9:02 evaporate after eluding Zargarpour on a breakaway. The Pioneers' forward fired a shot at an open goal but found the post, which sent the ball trickling out of bounds.
Despite scoring chances for both squads and with the score still tied at three apiece, the game went to strokes. The Bison were successful on all three of their attempts coming off the sticks of Corinne Raczek (Ocean Township, N.J./Ocean Township), Tayler Siegrist (Madison, N.J./Madison) and Christine Weiss (Bethlehem, Pa./Southern Lehigh). After watching the Pioneers' first attempt go wide, Zargarpour made a strong save on each of her opponents' last two strokes to give the Bison the hard-earned win.
Bucknell has not been a complete stranger to the strokeoff in recent years. The Bison also claimed a 4-3 win on strokes at Columbia last season.
Saturday's series of events came as a bit of a surprise after the Bison looked to be control throughout the first 35:00 of the game. A 13-3 advantage in shots translated to a two-goal lead at halftime following scores from Morgan Kauffman (Millersville, Pa./Penn Manor) and Rachel Misko (Morristown, N.J./Madison).
Kauffman netted her team-best fourth goal of the season 10 minutes into play. The senior received a pass from classmate Kelly Bruvik (Skillman, N.J./Stuart Country Day School) in front of the net, and Kauffman pounded it past the Pioneers' goalkeeper in traffic.
Misko earned her first goal of the day following a penalty corner with less than 13 minutes remaining in the opening frame. The freshman tipped the ball in with some help from Siegrist.
Against Sacred Heart, Bucknell held a 16-6 edge in corners, including 8-1 in the second half. Despite that second-half lead in penalty corners, it was the Pioneers that came out of the locker room on fire. Sacred Heart put two quick goals past Bucknell goalkeeper Erica Perrine (Bridgewater, N.J./Bridgewater-Raritan), who entered the game at halftime. The Pioneers' Dana Luhrs struck first, putting a bouncing ball in the back of the net to bring her team within one at the 28:54 mark. Sacred Heart did not have to wait long to knot things up, as Kasten scored just 33 seconds later.
Bucknell started to find its stride again as the half wore on, and Misko fired in a goal past Sacred Heart's keeper Kim Stow with 11:05 remaining in regulation. The score gave the Bison their short-lived 3-2 lead.
Zargarpour, who earned the start and re-entered the game for the extra periods, finished with the win, improving her record in goal to 3-4. The keeper finished with four saves and did not allow a goal in 65:00. Perrine allowed three goals and made two saves in 35:00.
Stow took the loss, falling to 1-7 on the year after allowing three goals and making 11 saves.
Bucknell will have little time to recover from its long afternoon as it hosts Indiana at 1 p.m. tomorrow at Graham Field. Live stats on GameTracker will be available at BucknellBison.com.
