LOCK HAVEN, Pa. – The Lock Haven University field hockey team (4-1, 4-1 A-10) closed the 2020-21 regular season and celebrated senior day in thrilling fashion as the Bald Eagles secured an important 2-1 Atlantic 10 Conference (A-10) win over visiting La Salle (0-11, 0-6 A-10).
It marked the second 2-1 win of the season for Lock Haven over La Salle. Back on March 19, at La Salle, the Bald Eagles opened the 2020-21 season with a 2-1 victory over the Explorers.
Today's win pushed Lock Haven to 4-1 overall and 4-1 in A-10 action, and keeps the Bald Eagles atop of the conference standings in the north division.
Prior to today's game, the Bald Eagles honored their four seniors:
Prabhneet Basra (Surrey, British Columbia, Canada/Sullivan Heights),
Tia Judy (East Prospect, Pa./Eastern York),
Niamh Sexton (Fermoy, Ireland/Loreto Secondary School Fermoy) and
Jackie Snedden (State College, Pa./State College).
It was only fitting that Basra – a senior – scored the game-winning goal with less than five minutes to play in the contest.
After a scoreless first half,
Martina Spangenberg (Buenos Aries, Argentina/Piaget School) put Lock Haven up 1-0 early in the third quarter. She deflected a ball home off a hard pass from
Amy Stevens (Castle Creek, N.Y./Whitney Point). For Spangenberg, it marked her second goal of the season.
With 6:21 left in regulation, La Salle tied the game on goal by Kelsey Jones.
Basra broke the tie and provided the game-deciding marker with 4:23 left in the contest. It was her first goal of the season.
Lock Haven out shot the visitors, 18-3 and the Bald Eagles held an 11-3 advantage in corners.
LHU's defense was solid, thanks in large part to the play of Judy, Sexton and
Karina Long (Hummelstown, Pa./Lower Dauphin). Both
Jazmin Palma (Entre Rios Province, Argentina/Colegio Sagrado Corazon de Jesus) and
Billie Jo Bollinger (Manheim, Pa./Manheim Central) turned in notable individual efforts as well.
Lock Haven will now wait on an official announcement from the Atlantic 10 office regarding the 2020-21 postseason tournament.
All five of LHU's games during this special, but limited spring season have come vs. Atlantic 10 Conference opponents. Three of the five games, including today's match, came on the home turf at Charlotte Smith Field. The Bald Eagles went 2-1 at home this spring.
Celebrating a 75th anniversary:
During this special 2021 spring season, the LHU field hockey program is celebrating a milestone anniversary. The 2020-21 season marks the 75
th anniversary of the first field hockey season back in 1945-46. The Bald Eagles first official varsity season came during the fall of 1945. The first varsity contest in program history came on October 20, 1945 and resulted in a victory. Since that first win, many more have followed, to go along with a number of other prestigious honors, including 69 winning seasons, 15 conference championships and seven national titles.
