PHILADELPHIA – This streak just won’t end.
For the Massachusetts field hockey team, its run of 22 consecutive conference wins was in serious jeopardy last Saturday at the Verizon Atlantic 10 tournament in Philadelphia. The Minutewomen trailed Richmond 1-0 with a mere 1.5 seconds left on the clock, knowing that a loss would have ended their season.
But a moment before time expired, the Maroon and White made one last gasp to keep its head above water, drawing a penalty corner as the clock ticked down to less than two seconds. On this final play of the game, Jill Fantasia made a perfect push to Lindsay Abbott, who stopped the ball for leading goal-scorer Anke Bruemmer, and then watched as the 6-foot-1-inch senior drilled the game-tying goal into the left corner of the net as the clock struck zero.
With the score now tied and the momentum clearly in favor of the Minutewomen, Abbott secured the double overtime win by backhanding the rebound of an Ashley Gilbert shot into the opposing cage with 4:12 left.
“We almost pictured ourselves on the bus going home and we just didn’t want it to happen,” Bruemmer said. “The whole team noticed it all at once – it was great.”
The UMass weekend was not nearly done, however, as the A-10 championship game, with an NCAA tournament berth at stake, was still to be played. This time around, the Maroon and White was pitted against West Chester, a team that had crushed St. Joseph’s 2-0 in the other semifinal match.
Sure enough, the Golden Rams got out to a 2-1 lead as the contest neared completion, but the Minutewomen could not be denied for the second consecutive day. A botched push on another penalty corner somehow resulted in a loose ball in front of the West Chester net, and Fantasia was able to blast her first career score through the resulting scrum and into the opposing cage.
That sent things into another OT, and this time around, it was Bruemmer that finished the Golden Rams off, corralling her own deflection of a penalty corner blast from the point, and drilling it into the right corner of the cage for the game and tourney win.
“We knew it would be a fight,” Maroon and White coach Patty Shea said. “Because every team has nothing to lose against us. The No. 1 seed always has a bulls-eye on its back and they’re always going to be tough, tough games – but we persevered.
“These were two of the most exciting games UMass has ever been involved in,” the fifth year coach added. “We maintained our poise and composure the entire time. To first tie it and then win it is a tough task, and it can become a game of who wants it more.”
In the semifinals against Richmond, the Minutewomen stopped a Spider corner, only to see it called back because of a defensive false start 15 minutes into the contest. With the new life, Erika Cohen banana shot the ball by Maroon and White netkeeper Ashley Egland to give her team the one-goal lead.
Things remained scoreless from that point until Bruemmer’s miraculous tally, and it was Egland who was responsible for keeping the game close. Time and time again in the later stages of the game, Richmond mounted offensive rallies, only to see them stopped by the sophomore goalie.
Egland’s most impressive save of a good bunch came with seven minutes left in regulation, when she scissor-kicked a Spider corner shot back out of the circle. In addition, Egland was able to keep A-10 leading scorer Heather Rice from tallying, a task not many teams have been able to accomplish.
However, even though Rice was arguably the conference’s most dangerous player coming into the tourney, UMass did not come up with a special strategy to contain her.
“To be honest, the entire first game I didn’t even know who Heather Rice was,” said Egland, referring to her squad’s 2-1 victory over the Spiders on Oct. 27. “I just play her like any other player.”
In Sunday’s championship game with West Chester, the Minutewomen got off to an outstanding start when Abbott poked a loose ball into the opposition’s goal midway through the first half. The Golden Rams answered in the beginning of the second frame, however, as a Jill Posen corner shot was deflected by Kate Randle into the net less than five minutes in.
Slightly more than 10 minutes later, West Chester ran the same play off another corner opportunity, and this time, Posen’s shot went untouched into the Maroon and White cage to make the score 2-1. Until Fantasia tied the game 17 minutes later, that is how the score would remain.
At the conclusion of the tournament, forward Stacey Blue, back Heather Kenney, Bruemmer and Abbott were all named to the all-tournament team. Abbott also garnered the Most Outstanding Player of the tourney award, as she knocked home two goals and dished out an assist on the weekend.
For Bruemmer, it was yet another award to add to her collection, as she was named Defensive Player of the Year at the A-10 banquet on Friday. The senior sweeper, along with Fantasia, was also a part of the all-conference team.
Now, with their awards in hand, the Minutewomen look ahead to their sixth straight NCAA tournament, which will begin next weekend. Tonight, they will find out where and whom they are playing, as they look to advance to their first Final Four since 1992.
“We have great momentum and great confidence,” Shea said. “These were the first games all season where we came back and won – we just have to keep pressing and do whatever it takes.”
Shea’s squad will head into the tourney with an 11-9 (8-0 A-10) record, and a conference streak still intact.
