READING, Pa. – The Albright Lions field hockey team suffered a 2-1 loss in double overtime to Widener on Wednesday night in the MAC Commonwealth regular season finale.
With the loss, the Lions drop to 7-10 overall on the season and finish MAC Commonwealth play with a 2-5 record. Meanwhile, the Pride improve to 8-7 and finish conference play with a 3-4 record.
Each offense started slowly as the first shot of the game was not registered until the 14
th minute of the game. The Lions then started to mount some pressure and it paid off by earning a penalty corner in the 23
rd minute. Junior defender
Kyra Scerbo lifted a pass off the corner in front of the goal mouth and senior
Annette Helmandollar batted the ball out of mid-air to give the Lions a 1-0 lead. Albright then nearly added to its lead in the 27
th minute when junior
Kaley Donmoyer had a shot saved by the Pride goalkeeper.
The Pride then came out strong in the second half and registered two shots on net back-to-back that were quickly stopped by sophomore goalkeeper
Brynne Schoppe. Albright then had a chance to score when sophomore
Jennifer Crumling tried to jam home a shot in the 43
rd minute with back-to-back shots of her own. Widener then tied the game in the 49
th minute after a shot from the right short right wing went into the net. The Pride then nearly took the lead in the 62
nd minute when they had two shots batted away by junior defender
Kyra Scerbo after the ball got by a diving Schoppe. Schoppe would then make saves on back-to-back shots.
In the first overtime, the Pride took control early and rattled their first shot off the post. The Lions then earned back-to-back penalty corners, but were unable to register a shot off the chances. Widener again started strong in the second overtime and had an early chance to win it with a shot that rung off the top bar of the cage in the 84
th minute. Two more shots were saved before the Pride ended the game on a shot following a penalty corner with 3:12 left in the second overtime.
Widener held a 17-9 shot advantage after out-shooting the Lions 15-4 through the second half and two overtime periods. The Lions held a slight 9-8 edge in penalty corners. Schoppe made seven saves in the loss and played the entire 86:48, while Scerbo made two defensive saves. Pride goalkeeper Sabrina Roberto earned the win after entering in the second half and making four saves in 51:48 of play.
The Lions will conclude their 2018 season on Saturday, October 27
th when they will face McDaniel at 5:30 p.m for senior day.
