2016 Champions - Ursinus
COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – It took 80-plus minutes of tense, physical field hockey to decide the Centennial Conference championship. When the dust settled on another epic clash with Franklin & Marshall, it was Ursinus left hoisting the trophy once more.
Sophomore Bridget Sherry buried a penalty stroke low and into the left corner of the cage with 4:20 remaining in overtime to give the Bears a thrilling 2-1 victory and their fourth consecutive CC crown and 12th in the past 13 years. Ursinus avenged a 1-0 loss at F&M in September and earned the CC's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament and will await its placement, which will be announced live on NCAA.com at 11:30 p.m.
Thanks to her championship-clinching stroke and two games of stellar defense, Sherry was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player.
Ursinus improved to a sparkling 25-2 all-time in the conference tournament, including an unblemished 12-0 mark in championship games. It also gave the senior class of Ann Kopera, Rachel Zane, Colleen Leahy, Aliki Torrence, and Amber Steigerwalt a clean sweep of CC championships during their tenure.
This one took a little extra as two stingy and evenly matched powers that have squared off in the title game four years in a row went to battle in the first overtime conference final since 2004, and only the second ever.
After combining for just 10 shots between them in regulation, the field opened up dramatically with the onset of the 7-on-7 overtime format. Ursinus had the run of play, attempting three shots before Sherry's stroke, one of them a deflection off the stick of senior Ann Kopera that Diplomats keeper Iliana Santangelo did well to bat away. Shortly afterward, Torrence sent a pass up ahead to Steigerwalt, who had gotten in behind the Diplomats' extended back line.
All alone with the keeper, Steigerwalt chased down the long pass and maneuvered to her right before being taken down by a Franklin & Marshall defender as she wound up for a shot. The officials awarded a stroke and up stepped Sherry, who was 3-for-4 on them during the regular season. The Bears' designated stroke artist came through, lifting a shot past Santangelo to the left side of the cage, setting off a frenzied celebration as the Ursinus bench came spilling out onto the field.
Ursinus owned an 11-3 advantage in shots and a 5-2 edge in corners. Junior Brooke Overly led all players with four shots as Leahy and Steigerwalt tallied two apiece.
The Bears used persistence and a penalty corner to break a scoreless deadlock late in the first half. On the third corner of the period, Steigerwalt got a stick on a deflected ball in front of the cage that was turned away by Franklin & Marshall goalkeeper Iliana Santangelo. But the rebound came right back to Steigerwalt, who snuck it through Santangelo's legs and into the back of the cage to stake the Bears to a 1-0 lead with 7:30 remaining in the half.
Steigerwalt's goal was the 57th of her career, moving her into a tie for fifth all-time at Ursinus.
The Diplomats wasted little time wresting the upper hand away from Ursinus, also getting on the board via a penalty corner. Emily Nagle inserted and found herself in the right place at the right time, as a shot towards the right of the cage deflected off the stick of Phoebe Wood and directly to Nagle at the left post. She made no mistake with an open net and buried the equalizer with just under five minutes left in the frame, and F&M was able to go into the break tied despite managing only two shots.
Each side mustered one shot in the second half that, despite the tension, featured little in the way of scoring chances.
Into overtime the sides went, where Sherry would deliver the Bears yet another conference crown.