GALLOWAY, N.J. – The Albright Lions field hockey team was unable to overcome an early deficit as they suffered a season-ending 4-2 loss on the road to Stockton in the quarterfinals of the ECAC Field Hockey Championship.
With the loss, the Lions conclude their season with a 9-10 record, while the Ospreys improve to 11-8 and will advance to the ECAC semifinals against Alvernia on Saturday.
Stockton controlled play early on in the match as they hammered the Lions zone, creating four penalty corner opportunities in the first nine minutes of the game. The fourth penalty corner of the game would lead to the Ospreys first goal of the game when Alexa Massa ripped the ball from the top of the circle. Massa would strike again just a little over 11 minutes later to extend Stockton's lead after being fed the ball in the circle. After being held without a shot since the fifth minute of the game, senior
Amanda Long would get the Lions on the board in the 30
th minute with her 11
th goal of the season on a tap-in from sophomore
Marley Berger. Despite momentum swinging to the Lions, the Ospreys re-extended the lead back to two after Brittany Stein scored just four minutes later in the 34
th minute. Stockton held a 7-2 shot advantage after one.
Albright came out of halftime and cut back into the Osprey's lead when junior
Annette Helmandollar scored on the first shot of the second half in the 41
st minute of the game. The Ospreys countered with heavy pressure over the next 11 minutes with five shots and five penalty corners, but were unable to convert with Lions junior goalkeeper
Aileen Taylor standing tall in net. Albright had a tremendous opportunity to tie the game in the 52
nd minute on back-to-back shots from Helmandollar and sophomore
Kaley Donmoyer. The first shot ended up being saved before Donmoyer struck her shot wide right. The Ospreys would then put the finishing touches on the game with in a goal in the 60
th minute from Massa, who registered a hat trick on the evening.
The Ospreys held a 14-8 shot advantage for the game despite only out-shooting Albright 7-6 in the second half. Stockton also held an 11-7 penalty corner advantage as well. Taylor suffered the loss after making six saves and allowing four goals in the full 70 minutes of play. Stockton goalkeeper Emily Sorochynskyj tallied the win after making three saves and allowing two goals in the entire 70 minutes.
