The No. 7 AU Field Hockey team saw its storybook season come to a blunt end Sunday, losing the NCAA quarterfinals to a dominant No. 3 Maryland team, 2-0.
Despite the loss, advancement to the quarterfinals marks the furthest any AU team has gone in the NCAA tournament.
The team will lose three seniors, Leah Danoff, Sacha-Rae Texeira and Javiera Villagra, before next year's campaign to graduation, but will retain the core of its starting lineup. And next season, the Eagles will, for the first time in years, have a home artificial turf venue, situated between Watkins Hall and Reeves Field on the southwest end of campus.
AU closed the season at 19-3 and went undefeated against Patriot League opposition. Maryland (17-5) advances to the Final Four in Winston Salem, N.C., and will play home-standing No. 2 Wake Forest in one semifinal. Michigan State plays Duke in the other semifinal.
The Eagles advanced to play Maryland by defeating the No. 11 Iowa Hawkeyes, 2-1, on a sunny, blustery Saturday afternoon. It was AU's first NCAA tournament win in program history, though the Eagles did win a play-in game against Quinnipiac last season, 4-1.
Iowa finished the season at 13-8, 5-1 in the Big Ten.
"It was a huge, huge win for our program," AU head coach Steve Jennings said of the Iowa game. "I'm really proud of our effort."
Freshman attacking phenom Maggie Hall carried the day by scoring both AU goals, including a dramatic game-winner goal that put the Eagles ahead for good with only 5:23 to go in the game.
"It's incredible," Hall said of the game and the result. "I'm still in shock."
Hall, who became, at least for Saturday, the team's leading goal-scorer by slotting home her 14th and 15th of the season, hammered in the winner by cleaning up the residue of a failed penalty corner.
After the initial corner came in from the right-hand side, AU had a couple attempts at goals blocked by Iowa defenders. The ball trickled left to Hall, who slipped and fell on her knees but still struck a shot from roughly eight yards past Iowa goalie Barbara Weinberg.
"I think it's very difficult to anticipate 15 goals, or two goals in a game, including a game-winner," Jennings said. "But she's just a phenomenal player. I've not stopped being amazed by her. She's been doing it all year."
Hall said, "I didn't think I was going to contribute this much, no. But you're only as good as your team."
Teamwork set up Hall's first goal, a penalty-corner tally of the more conventional fashion.
Freshman forward Denise Infante took the corner, this one from the left. The ball eventually came to junior midfielder Heather Maranzano. She slid the ball left to Hall, who lofted it high and left of Weinberg with 15:39 to go in the first period.
The Hawkeyes pressured the Eagles and tied it about midway through the second half. Lauren Stiver drove the ball home for Iowa after receiving the ball from the left after a deflection off an AU defender. Stiver's goal came only seconds after Iowa looked like it should have tied it, only for junior defender Maureen Daniel to clear a ball off the goal line.
In Sunday's affair, Maryland scored twice in a stretch of 6:30 during the middle of the first half.
First, Sarah Silvetti put the Terrapins ahead 15 minutes in, finishing off a penalty corner after assists from Emily Beach and Janneke van Leeuwen. With 13:30 to go, Lauren Powley doubled the lead, knocking home a rebound off a shot from a fellow Terp.
Maryland didn't sit on its lead and instead, in search of revenge for an Oct. 3 loss to AU, continued to pressure the Eagles throughout the affair. In the process, the Terrapins outshot the Eagles, 25-1.
AU goalie Allison Fayfinch shined in an otherwise forgettable day, making 12 saves to keep the match close.
