The AU field hockey team defeated the Lafayette College Leopards 3-1 at Jacobs Field to clinch the Patriot League regular-season championship on Senior Day.
The No. 8-ranked Eagles played a tight first half with the lone goal coming from freshman forward Alex McMackin. McMackin deflected in a shot from Natalie Ellenberger at the 22:46 mark. McMackin followed up with a second half-goal with the assist coming from Shelly Montgomery.
“I think the entire team was working well,” McMackin said. “The lines were very fluid and the forwards were able to cut to the ball very quickly.”
The Eagles defense played strong, only allowing seven Lafayette shots. Goalkeeper Hannah Weitzman made only one save and allowed one late goal when the game was out of reach for Lafayette.
At the 21:09 mark in the second half, Christine Fingerhuth drew a warning green card. Lafayette was given a free play. The pass by Lafayette was intercepted by Melissa Casale who burst down the field, and passed to Fingerhuth who put the ball in net.
“I thought I didn’t deserve that green card at all and I had just missed that penalty shot so I thought I had to do something more,” Fingerhuth said. “I saw the opportunity and I really wanted to score. I was just really angry and needed to be happy with myself.”
The win marks the seventh straight Patriot League regular-season title won by the Eagles and Head Coach Steve Jennings. Last year AU also clinched the regular season title with a victory over Lafayette. With the victory, the Eagles will host the Patriot League tournament this upcoming weekend.
“We are always happy when we have a clinching day on Senior Day,” Jennings said. “Today was a little different in that Lafayette was also undefeated and had they won they would have hosted, so maybe a little more pressure on us. We’re happy we were able to honor our seniors with a win.”
The Eagles finished the year at or near the top in almost every team statistical category. Most notably, American finished the year with a league-leading 3.44 goals per game and only allowing 1.06 goals per game. Individually, Christine Fingerhuth finished the regular season with 32 points, putting her in a tie for first place with Lafayette’s Deanna Dicroce. Fingerhuth also led the league with 15 goals. In goal Hannah Weitzman led the league with five shutouts and 0.91 goals against average.
Before the game, AU honored seven seniors: Hannah Weitzman, Anne Van Erp, Shay Smith, Jaclyn Krizovensky, Hannah Hennighausen, Kirstin Gebhart and Christine Fingerhuth. The class of 2011 has won the Patriot League regular-season title for all four years, and the Patriot League tournament the past three years.
“It was a very emotional day because my parents were here,” Fingerhuth said. “At the beginning it was hard but I was very happy. I tried to think of it as a regular game because if I didn’t I would be very emotional throughout the game.”
The Eagles season continues next weekend when they host Colgate in the first round of the Patriot League Tournament. In their previous meeting, the Eagles defeated Colgate 6-1 in a game which featured a hat trick from Fingerhuth.
“The kids did a phenomenal job this season,” Jennings said. “We had some fantastic wins, some unbelievable performances and doing it with great joy. We know that this is only what we want to accomplish in the postseason.”
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