"Offense wins games, but defense wins championships."
Never was that mantra truer than with the 2005 AU field hockey team.
For the third straight year, the Eagles (19-1, 5-0 Patriot League) captured the PL Tournament title by posting wins Saturday over Lehigh, 7-0, and Sunday over Holy Cross, 4-2, at the Jacobs Recreational Complex.
On both days, the scoreboard shows no shortage of AU offense. But on the field this weekend, and through out the season it was the defense that set the tone.
It started with junior goalkeeper Allison Fayfich, who allowed only two goals in the tournament and recorded four saves to help secure the automatic NCAA
Tournament berth.
"I'm just confident in our defense," Fayfich said. "I know we're always strong no matter who we're playing, strong offense or not."
That defense in front of her limited Lehigh (6-13, 2-3) and Holy Cross (10-10, 3-2) to a combined 10 shots while the AU offense exploded for 40.
"I feel like our defense was really strong, especially in the first half and through most of the second half," said AU coach Steve Jennings. "They set a standard that the other team knew they were going to have a really difficult time scoring. And once you have that, other teams start to press a little bit and it starts to fall your way. "Things fell the Eagles' way 23 minutes into the championship match against Holy Cross when freshman attacker and PL Co-Rookie of the Year
Irene Shickhardt drove in from midfield untouched to score AU's first goal. That goal shifted the momentum in favor of Eagles. Fewer than six minutes later, sophomore midfielder Maggie Hall put AU up 2-0 after deflecting a Camila Infante shot past Holy Cross goalie Sony Kuhn.
After the second goal, the Eagles offense handed the game over to its defense.
Sophomore defender Denise Infante, who earned her second consecutive PL Tournament MVP, notched the final two goals for AU to give it a commanding 4-0 lead.
AU's dominance, said senior defender Maureen Daniel, was a simple matter of execution.
"There's a game plan and we just try and do our best to stick to the game plan," Daniel said. "So each week depending on the team, we play we have different sort of goals that we try and work toward. And the better we execute the goals, the better we do on the field."
The Eagle defense has allowed only 22 goals in 20 games. Prior to the PL Tournament, Fayfich boasted a league-best goals-against average with 1.29 per contest.
"We're just a great defense no matter who's in there," Fayfich said humbly. "We're strong and confident in them all the time."
Daniel echoes Fayfich's confidence.
"Our defense isn't flashy," Daniel said. "You don't really score game-winning goals, but at the same time you can tell when defense does well and when we breakdown."
AU advances onto the NCAA Tournament with site and opponent to be determined Tuesday. Last season, the Eagles advanced to the quarterfinal round of the national competition before dropping to Maryland, 2-0.
This year, Jennings and his team want more.
"Our goal is to make it to the Final Four and see what happens from there," Jennings said.
The Eagles say they know what it takes to advance.
"We know every game is important," Denise Infante said. "You just have to take care of it. We're going to do the best that we can every single second, every single game. When we play a better team we are a better team."
Added Daniel, "It's time to put it all out there"
