RICHMOND, Va. – The Lock Haven University field hockey team (4-2) fell to perennial conference power Saint Joseph's (5-2) today in the semifinals of the 2020-21 Atlantic 10 Conference (A-10) Tournament. The No. 3 seed Hawks edged out the No. 2 seed Bald Eagles, 4-2, to advance to tomorrow's championship match.
Saint Joseph's has won three straight A-10 Tournament titles and advances to the Atlantic 10 championship game for the fifth straight season.
Freshman
Martina Spangenberg (Buenos Aries, Argentina/Piaget School) and standout
Jazmin Palma (Entre Rios Province, Argentina/Colegio Sagrado Corazon de Jesus) scored for the Bald Eagles today.
Goalkeeper
Joaquina Orlandini (Concordia, Argentina/San Antonio School) made seven saves for Lock Haven.
Sara Hayes put Saint Joseph's up 1-0 just 5:42 into the contest and in the 13
th minute of play, Anna Miller made it 2-0 in favor of the Hawks.
Spangenberg scored late in the first half (26') to the cut into the lead. It marked her third goal of the season as Lock Haven trailed 2-1 at halftime.
Just 42 seconds into the second half, Emily Peters scored for Saint Joseph's as the Hawks stretched the lead to 3-1.
Palma made it a one-goal game again after she converted a penalty stroke in the 43
rd minute. Her second goal of the season got LHU back into the game as SJU led 3-2.
Saint Joseph's answered Palma's tally however less than two minutes later. Hayes scored her second of the game and pushed the Hawk-lead to 4-2.
For the game, Saint Joseph's held a narrow 19-16 advantage in shots.
Palma and
Amy Stevens (Castle Creek, N.Y./Whitney Point) both had five shots apiece for LHU.
The Bald Eagles strong offensive push forced Hawks' goalkeeper Robin Bleekemolen to make nine saves.
Lock Haven entered the tournament as the No. 2 overall seed after claiming the Atlantic 10's North Division regular season title by way of a 4-1 regular season record.
This marked Lock Haven's second straight season where the Bald Eagles have reached the Atlantic 10 Tournament. Last season's (fall 2019) A-10 semifinal appearance marked Lock Haven's first A-10 tournament appearance since 2014. Since joining the A-10 as an affiliate member in 2010, this marked LHU's fifth all-time tournament appearance.
The special 2020-21 season allowed Lock Haven to celebrate a milestone anniversary for the program this spring.
The 2020-21 season marked the 75th anniversary of the first field hockey season back in 1945-46. The Bald Eagles first official varsity season came during the fall of 1945 and the first varsity contest in program history came on October 20, 1945, which 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.
With the victory, Saint Joseph's advances to tomorrow's (Saturday, April 24) championship game. The Hawks will take on top-seed, host and nationally-ranked (No. 18) Virginia Commonwealth at noon. Earlier today, VCU downed cross-town rival Richmond, 1-0.
Lock Haven finished the spring with a 4-2 overall record.
