St. Lawrence University Athletics

Junior Ava Hartley scored in the final minutes of regulation, but the St. Lawrence University field hockey team lost 2-1 to the Bombers of Ithaca in Canton, N.Y. on Friday afternoon.

The Saints, donning their "Power of Pink" jerseys in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness month, had the first opportunity to score. First-year Mayson Blondek had a one-on-one with the keeper, but Ithaca's Macy Brandwein swallowed up the shot. Ithaca earned a penalty corner a few minutes later, and with some confusion in front of the cage, Jacqueline Mirabile was able to put the Bombers ahead. In the second quarter it was nearly a two-goal hole for the Saints, but senior Molly Lake knocked the ball off the goal line to prevent the second score.

Ithaca got the only two shots of the third quarter, but in the fourth the Saints were pressed to tie the game. They earned two early penalty corners but failed to capitalize. With under three minutes to play, St. Lawrence earned two more penalty corners. On the second, Suzanne L'Hommedieu collected the pass and rifled it towards the back corner where Hartley notched her first goal of the season. Cara Vredenburg made one more save for the Saints in regulation to send the game into extra time.

The first overtime period was not short on excitement, with each team having opportunities to score but failing to do so. In the second overtime, Ithaca's Natalie Descalso fired a shot off Vredenburg's pad, and one-timed the rebound into the cage for the game winner.


Vredenburg finished with 13 saves, and Lake and Katrina Randall each had a defensive save. Ithaca's Brandwein made three saves.

Ithaca had 17 shots on goal to the Saints' five, but St. Lawrence had 12 corners to the Bomber's 11.

Head coach Fran Grembowicz
"The was definitely the best game we've played all year. They really put their heart and soul into the game today. I'm really proud of how much energy we had and how hard we battled. Our passing game was excellent today, defensively we made it really hard for Ithaca to advance the ball. Our pressure defense looked really good, and Cara was phenomenal in net. It was a lot of pieces today that we've been working on that really clicked, and we are looking forward to getting back on the field tomorrow for practice and Sunday to finish really strong in the Liberty League."

Records: St. Lawrence (4-8, 0-4 LL), Ithaca (11-2, 4-0 LL)
Up next: at Union on October 16^th at 3 p.m.