NOVEMBER 8, 2006
KING’S FIELD HOCKEY AT ROWAN IN NCAA OPENER
GLASSBORO, NJ
– Danielle Miranda broke open a scoreless game midway through the
second half as the host Rowan University field hockey team posted a 2-0
victory over King’s College in the first round of the NCAA Division III
National Tournament on a rain-soaked Wednesday in Glassboro, NJ.
With the loss, King’s
ends its most successful season in school history with a 19-4 record.
Rowan, the 11th ranked team nationally in Division III,
improved to 15-5 and advances to a second-round game on Saturday against
top-ranked Cortland State University (18-0).
Rowan would control
the majority of the first half territorially, but were unable to score.
The Profs, however, missed out on a golden opportunity with 1:35
remaining in the opening period when a Rowan shot bounced off the post
and rebounded off the blocker of King’s goalie Kari Leach and caromed
off the post a second time before being cleared by the Lady Monarch
defense.
Rowan would finally
get on the board with 17:20 remaining in the contest when Danielle
Miranda deflected in a feed from the top of the circle by Erin Tideman.
King’s nearly tied the
game with 8:30 left when a Debbie Wychock shot bounced off the right
post.
Rowan would add an insurance goal by Rachel Cheafsky with 1:05 left to
seal the victory.
Rowan outshot King’s
29-10 and held a 13-9 advantage in penalty corners. Leach made 12 saves
for King’s while Rowan keeper Amanda Cuccionotti made three stops
King’s bad fortunes
began Tuesday when senior team captain and defensive leader Alicia
Barrios suffered an ankle injury during practice on Rowan’s artificial
turf field. The injury force Lady Monarch head coach Cheryl Ish to
juggle her lineup, changing from the five-forward attack that produced a
school-record 100 goals entering the contest, to a four-forward lineup
while adding another defensive player. Barrios would gamely play
the first half but was removed early in the second-half after a
collision with a Rowan player and did not return.
Rowan's defense, meanwhile, played solid and kept King's offense from
consistently working the ball near the goalmouth as the Lady Monarchs
had done so well during the season.
King's was outshot 20-4 in the first-half, but only a few of Rowan's
shots were quality scoring chances. The Lady Monarchs saw their
offense produce more opportunities in the second stanza as Rowan held a
9-7 advantage in shots over the final 35:00 of play.
Despite the loss, King's finished its finest campaign to date, winning
its first-ever Freedom Conference title after finishing second in 2003
and 2005.
King's senior star Lindsay Sabo also ended her brilliant career as
King's all-time leading scorer with 157 points, while also establishing
school-records in goals (61) and assists (35). She concluded her
senior year with 59 points, the second highest single-game total in
King's history, on 25 goals and nine assists.
Only teammate Debbie
Wychock tallied more points as the junior forward concluded the 2006
campaign with 61 points on 25 goals and 11 assists. Sabo and
Wychock both established a new single-year goal record in 2006, while
Wychock's 11 assists equals the mark Sabo set a year ago.
