Written by Chip Rogers
The tournament opened with a pair of east coast teams flying all the way across the country to meet in the first-ever National College Club Field Hockey Championships. Cortland State took the early lead as Laura Danning scored the first of her two goals in the game to put the Red Dragons up 1-0. Dana Utz made the score 2-0 for Cortland and the No. 2 seed took that lead into halftime. Freshman keeper Allie Dudick made seven saves to keep ODU off the scoreboard in the first frame. ODU’s Hannah Meinertzhagen pulled the Lady Monarchs within one early in the second half, but Danning’s second goal of the game gave Cortland a 3-1 lead. Sarah Zeisler finally solved Dudick late in the second half to pull ODU within one with under a minute to go in the game, but time ran out and Cortland State held on for the 3-2 win. Dudick finished with 15 saves in the contest as the Red Dragons gained an early three points in pool standings.
As the evening session got underway, the host Gauchos opened up with the top-seeded Mustangs of Cal Poly SLO. The WCFHC rivals had met three times in the season, and the winner of this game would have a huge leg up in the pool standings. The hosts were the early aggressors, earning six corners in the first period, but Mustang keeper Kelsey McFadyen withstood the pressure. It would be a Cal Poly short corner that was the difference in the frame as Susie Condon tipped in a pass from Chelsea Burton with 24 seconds left in the first half to give the top seeds the 1-0 lead. In the second half, the Gauchos again knocked on the door numerous times, gaining four corners, but they were unable to find the boards and Cal Poly remained undefeated with the 1-0 victory.
The Tritons of UC San Diego erupted in their opening game of the tournament, jumping out to a 5-0 lead behind two goals and an assist from Offensive MVP Amanda Combs of UCSD. Samantha Stout opened the scoring off an assist from Combs on a field goal, before Combs converted a pass from Annie Cheng on a short corner to put the Tritons up 2-0. Jaclyn Radford added a goal off a pass from Karyn Benson on a UCSD corner to go up 3-0 at the break. Cheng started the scoring in the second half with a goal as Radford notched the assist, and Combs closed out the scoring for the Tritons as she put in a pass from Connie Wong. The Red Dragons got on the board as Alexa Lynam scored a goal from the field of play, but it was not enough as Cortland closed out pool play with a 5-1 loss to UCSD.
The North Carolina Tar Heels faced tournament host UCSB in the final match of the night for pool A. Daniel Badzire-Smith silenced the home crowd with a goal just six minutes into the game, converting a pass from Kristen Crenshaw, putting the Heels up 1-0. The Gauchos stormed back as Caroline Rencken put in a pass from Michelle Gaynor to tie the game up just seven minutes later. With time winding down in the first half, UNC took the lead as Wendall Juliantinus scored off a scramble in front of the cage to give the visitors the 2-1 lead with 1:50 left in the first half. The Gauchos pressured in the second half and were able to get a one-player advantage when UNC defender Pieter Wolters was assessed a yellow card, but UCSB could not convert. Alyssa Schwartz made four saves for the Tar Heels in the upset of the host Gauchos as UNC held on for a 2-1 victory.
The Tritons returned to the field just fifteen minutes after their victory over Cortland to face the Lady Monarchs of Old Dominion. ODU was the aggressor early, drawing four corners in the first half of play but they were unable to solve Triton keeper Sarika Tandon. Meanwhile, the ODU defense held off the high-scoring Tritons for the first half of play and the teams entered the break knotted at 0-0. In the second half of play Connie Wong was the first Triton to break the seal on the goal. The breakthrough was quickly followed by goals from Samantha Stout and Christine Lee as UCSD jumped out to a 3-0 lead. As a fog rolled in across Rob Field, the night came to a close as the Tritons held on for the win and earned the top seed in Pool B, going 2-0 with the 3-0 victory over the Lady Monarchs.
Top-seeded Cal Poly SLO and UNC met for the final game of pool play early on Saturday morning with the top seed in the pool on the line. Mallory Wilson quickly put to rest any fears for Mustang fans that the Tar Heels would duplicate an upset as she scored the first of her two goals on the day in the first half. The UNC defense continued to stymie the Mustang forwards after that, holding them at bay for most of the game until Wilson put the game away with a goal late in the game for the 2-0 win and the bye into the semifinals.
Both quarterfinals took place at the same time, with Cortland facing host UCSB and UNC taking on ODU. Despite another solid game from Allie Dudick in the cage for the Red Dragons, the Gauchos used a pair of assists by Michelle Gaynor in the first half to the delight of the home crowd. Brittany Eason converted the first goal while Denise Russell scored the second goal as UCSB jumped out to a 2-0 lead at the break. Russell scored her second goal of the game midway through the first half off a pass from Laura Vivar to put the hosts up 3-0, but Kim Vocco answered for the Red Dragons with a goal just three minutes later. Dudick continued to keep Cortland in the game with four saves in the second half, but Vivar was able to solve her with a goal at 69:50 to give the Gauchos their first win of the tournament and a berth in the semifinals.
In a game reminiscent of NCAA Championship pedigrees, the clubs of Old Dominion and North Carolina met in a quarterfinal match of the NFHCA National Championships. Alicia Lawrence of the Lady Monarchs gave her squad the early lead off an assist from Courtney Parmenter, and ODU took the 1-0 lead into the half. With time winding down in the second half, Daniel Badzire-Smith scored to level the game at 1-1. Both teams had a couple of short corners late in the second half, but neither team was able to crack the boards and the NFHL rivals had to move into overtime. UNC was able to earn a pair of corners in the extra session, but ODU held off the Tar Heel attack and the Lady Monarchs moved the ball down the field where Julia Simo fed Parmenter on a breakaway, and the ODU captain scored seven minutes into the overtime for the victory. The win was ODU’s first of the tournament and send the Lady Monarchs into the semifinals.
For the second time in the tournament the Lady Monarchs matched up with the Tritons of UCSD, this time for a berth in the finals. Again the ODU defense held strong in the first half, keeping the pool champions off the board for the first 35 minutes. Karyn Benson opened up the scoring for the Californians, scoring an unassisted goal early in the second half to take the 1-0 lead. Amber Combs followed that up with a goal and an assist to Connie Wong to give UCSD a 3-0 lead, and the Tritons again held off the Lady Monarchs, this time advancing to the NFHCA Finals.
The other semifinal featured a classic West Coast battle as the host Gauchos took on the top-seeded Cal Poly Mustangs for the second time in the tournament. Chelsea Burton gave the undefeated Mustangs the early lead, but it did not silence the home crowd. Cal Poly took the 1-0 lead into the break. In the second half, UCSB’s Denise Russell became the first player to solve the Cal Poly defense in the tournament as she tied the game with a goal. With just seconds before the teams would have to go to overtime, Lauren Church tipped in a pass on a corner to give Cal Poly the 2-1 victory and the berth in the final game.
Cortland and UNC met in the fifth place game to open play on Sunday, and UNC quickly took control of the game as Badzire-Smith notched a goal just 1:24 into the game. From there, however, the Cortland defense repelled the Tar Heel attack for the remainder of the half, allowing only two more shots as Dudick was called upon to make only one save. Twelve minutes into the second half of play, Dana Utz tipped in a crossing pass from Emily Hunt to tie the game at 1-1. Kristen Crenshaw gave the Tar Heels the lead minutes later as she put in a scramble on a short corner, and with just under eight minutes to go she gave the Heels a 3-1 lead with her second goal of the game. Laura Danning blasted a restart into the cage with 54 seconds left in the game to pull the Red Dragons within one, but UNC stormed down the field and Jennifer Pan’s tip as the clock expired hit the boards, giving UNC the 4-2 victory and fifth place in the tournament.
The host Gauchos took on Old Dominion in the third place game and UCSB jumped out to an early lead as Brynne Dailey redirected a pass into the cage ten minutes into the game for the 1-0 lead. Despite seven corners in the contest, it was not until the seventh that the Gauchos were able to find the back of the cage again as Dani Laufer scored with 5:32 left in the half to give UCSB a 2-0 lead at the break. Dailey quickly got the Gaucho attack going in the second half as she scored 2:37 into the frame off an assist from Deanna Melin. The Lady Monarchs kept the Gauchos off the boards for the next 30 minutes, turning away seven corners before Saskia Nooy scored with 3:54 remaining to put UCSB up 4-0. Caroline Rencken added a goal 90 seconds later for the final score of 5-0 and the bronze medal went to the hosts.
For the second time in as many tournament finals, Cal Poly faced UC San Diego. The top-seeded Mustangs had let only one goal in for the tournament, thanks to a defense anchored by Sara Adams; UC San Diego was averaging just under four goals a game as Amber Combs had already notched three goals and two assists in the three games. The top-seeded Mustangs were under the gun early as Combs and company earned four short corners, but Kelsey McFadyen turned away shot after shot to preserve the 0-0 tie. Cal Poly righted itself with a pair of short corners, but they were unable to get a shot on cage and the teams entered the break tied 0-0. In the second half of play, the Cal Poly midfield stymied the Tritons and took control of the game, earning six short corners to UCSD’s one. The Mustangs were able to get off four shots, including one on an open cage that UCSD keeper Sarika Tandon was able to save with a dive at the last second. At the other end of the field, Adams and McFadyen faced only the one short corner and did not concede a shot on goal, which meant the teams would go to an extra session to determine the national champion. The Mustangs picked up where they left off, earning a short corner early in the frame, but Tandon was able to make the save to keep the Tritons in the game. Cal Poly picked up two more short corners but the top seeds were unable to convert. Midway through the frame, Amber Combs got a ball behind the Cal Poly defense, but a strong tackle by Amber Zimmerman thwarted the attempt and kept the Mustang hopes alive. As Cal Poly gained the possession on a 16-yard hit, the Mustangs got the ball up to Chelsea Burton, who started a 2v1 breakaway from the 25. She found Alexandra Dunn wide-open in the circle, and Dunn’s goal with 7:14 left in the overtime session gave the Mustangs the 2010 NFHCA College Club title.
UCSD’s Combs led all players with eight points (3 goals, 2 assists) and was the centerpiece of an attack that scored 11 goals in four games; she was named the Offensive MVP. Cal Poly’s Sara Adams led a defensive effort that allowed only one goal in four games; the senior earned Defensive MVP honors. Eighteen players were named to the All-Tournament team, including Cortland’s Allie Dudick and Laura Danning, UNC’s Pieter Wolters and Isabel Band, ODU’s Hannah Meinertzhagen, Courtney Parmenter and Sydney Catoire; UCSB’s Josie Steeves, Denise Russell and Brittany Eason; UCSD’s Annie Cheng, Jaclyn Radford, Amanda Combs and Karyn Benson, and Cal Poly’s Sara Adams, Lauren Church, Susie Condon and Mallory Wilson.
