Eagles defeat Michigan State, Rutgers to improve season record to 3-2
By PATRICK AMBROSIO
Eagle Staff Writer
The AU field hockey team rebounded from a rough first week and had a strong performance at last weekend's Temple Invitational, winning the title with a 6-1 victory over Michigan State and a 2-0 win over Rutgers.
Coming off an emotional 4-3 overtime victory over Stanford on Tuesday, the Eagles came out and dominated the first half against Michigan State. Senior Camila Infante opened the scoring midway through the half off of a feed from her sister, Denise. A little over three minutes later, freshman Savannah Graybill scored her fifth goal of the season to put the Eagles up 2-0.
It looked like the Eagles would go into the half with a two goal lead, but when senior Kaitlin DeTroia and sophomore Irene Schickhardt both scored in the last three minutes of the half, the rout was on.
The Eagles came out strong in the second half, with Schickhardt scoring her second goal of the game less than three minutes into the half. Senior Heidi Hershberger scored AU's final goal of the day. Michigan State broke up the shutout with a little over 20 minutes remaining, but that's all they could manage. Goalie Allison Fayfitch made five saves in the victory.
On Sunday, the Eagles once again dominated the first half, allowing only one shot on goal, but had nothing to show for it. Rutgers goalie Rosalyn Wentko made six saves in the first half to keep the game tied at zero. The match remained tied until the 50th minute, when junior Maggie Hall jammed home a rebound for her first goal of the season. Denise Infante scored off of a corner just over a minute later to give the Eagles a 2-0 lead.
Despite the close score, the Eagles dominated the game statistically. They outshot Rutgers 18-4 and had nine corner attempts to just two for the Scarlet Knights.
Fayfitch made three saves to notch her first shutout of the season. Wentko made 13 saves in the loss for Rutgers.
Two of the Eagles were recognized by Patriot League officials for their strong play this week. Denise Infante was named PL Offensive Player of the Week after scoring three goals, including the game winner on Tuesday in overtime against Stanford. Fayfitch was also honored for her strong performance, winning the PL Goalie of the Week award with a 3-0 record and only four total goals allowed for the week.
"I'm happy with the weekend," head coach Steve Jennings said in an interview with AUeagles.com. "We improved dramatically from the first weekend. I'm really looking forward to the Maryland Invitational."
The Eagles (3-2) will play next weekend at the Maryland Invitational, facing off against Northwestern on Saturday at 1 p.m. and Temple on Sunday at 3 p.m.
