LYNCHBURG, Va. – The Villanova field hockey team fell in a hard fought semifinal match against #7 Liberty on Friday, November 7, 5-0, in the BIG EAST tournament.
The 'Cats controlled much of the first frame of action. The held Liberty to no shots in the first 15 minutes of action and drew a few corner attempts as well. Since VU held possession for much of the quarter the put up four shots in the opening period. The one shot on goal was swiped away from the Liberty goalkeeper.
In the second, VU continued to control the game and dictate the pace of play. The Flames made the most of their lone shot attempt and their lone corner. LU got on the board first with just two minutes left in the second frame. Despite controlling the game, Villanova headed into the break only down one against the top ranked Flames.
In the second half the Flames got the offense going and started putting together some momentum. Liberty had five shots in the third to go along with five corners. Only one of those shots were on goal and freshman
Sophie Volkel was able to keep it out of the net. VU continued to put the offense together and had two attempts, but none on goal. We headed into the final 15 with a 1-0 lead for Liberty.
The final period began with a huge stop for the Villanova defense on a Liberty corner attempt to keep the deficit at one. Graduate student
Ava Borkowski put in a huge goal to tie the game early in the fourth. Junior
Colleen Finnan helped orchestrate that goal with a beautiful assist. The game was tied at one with ten minutes to play. The Flames retook the lead with under nine minutes to play, converting on the penalty corner. Villanova forced a corner with three minutes remaining, but junior
Addie Froehlich shot missed wide right. Liberty added an insurance goal in the final second to secure a win.
After the game, head coach
Joanie Milhous talked about how proud she was in her team for thier fight:
"Incredibly proud of this team. The growth we did in six days from the last time we played the was incredible. We stuck to the game plan and executed everything really well. I'm very proud of our team right now!"
