In back-and-forth games like the one between AU and the Navy Midshipmen, the team with the ball last usually wins.
That was the case Wednesday, when Navy midfielder Jill Coughlin scored her only goal of the game with 18 seconds remaining to break a 10-10 tie and push the Midshipmen to an 11-10 road victory.
“That’s a really hard loss, especially against a team that we have so much to prove against,” said AU sophomore Emily Burton, who scored two goals on the afternoon.
Despite the loss, AU clinched the No. 4 seed in the upcoming Patriot League Tournament thanks to the Lehigh Mountain Hawks defeating the Holy Cross Crusaders Saturday. If the Midshipmen win their season finale against Lehigh, AU and Navy will square off again in the tournament’s semifinals.
An unassisted goal by Emily Stankiewicz put the Eagles ahead 10-9 with 9:37 remaining, and AU tried to preserve its one-goal advantage. The teams then went scoreless for nearly seven minutes, until the Midshipmen’s Caitlin Mandarin Hill knotted the game at 10 apiece with 2:42 remaining.
Navy controlled the all-important draw following the goal, and played keep away over the following two minutes to hold for the last shot.
With 18 seconds remaining, Coughlin scored the game-winner thanks to a Mandarin Hill assist. The Midshipmen again controlled the following draw and ran out the final seconds for the victory.
“I think they did the same thing that we would have done in the same position,” said the Eagles’ Kimberly Collins, who scored a team-high four goals on the afternoon. “You always want to hold for the last shot.”
The game was highly competitive throughout, as AU responded to an early Navy attack. The Midshipmen scored three of the game’s first four goals, but AU scored the next four, and a Samantha Marshall score put the Eagles up 5-3 late in the opening half. A score by Navy’s Jasmine DePompeo score cut the AU lead to 5-4 at the half.
In the second half, every time one side tried to pull away, the other tied the game right back up. There were five ties in the final 30 minutes, and no team ever had a lead of more than one goal.
For Navy, Kathy Young registered a team-high five goals on the afternoon, while DePompeo added three to go along with two assists. Coughlin caused a team-high two turnovers, and Michelle Verbeeck made seven saves in goal.
Aside from Collins and Burton, Bernadette Maher played a solid game for AU with one goal, one assist and two draw controls. Marshall and Brit Ferguson each picked up three ground balls, while Kaska Komosinski made 11 saves.
AU will play its home finale on Tuesday, April 19, against the Liberty Flames before wrapping up its season on the road against the Davidson Wildcats. The Patriot League Tournament begins Friday, April 29.
ttomea@theeagleonline.com
