Box Score Huntingdon, Pa. – The No. 8 Catholic University field hockey team retained its first place conference slot in spite of falling to the Juniata Eagles 2-1 in overtime during a rescheduled season finale on Sunday.
With the loss the Cardinals drop to 6-1 in Landmark Conference play and 14-2 on the year, as Juniata improves to 5-2 in the league and 12-5 overall.
Today's contest was initially slated for Saturday, November 1. But, transportation issues for the Cards led to the contest being postponed.
The Eagles struck first in the 29th minute of the first half. Sarah Bilheimer found Katie Alexander off a corner to take the home-field lead, 1-0.
By the end of the first quarter, Catholic took three shots in comparison to Juniata's four. CUA was awarded two penalty corners in the same frame.
After the halftime intermission, neither team found the back of the box, despite the Cardinals out shooting the Eagles 4-0 (5-1 penalty corners).
"We picked up steam and started really competing at the end of the second half in spite of our lack of motivation in the first 35 minutes" said head coach Gia Cillizza.
Catholic stayed alive as the clock read 00:24 in the second half. On their fifth penalty corner of the half, Taylor Elliott entered the ball to Hayley Wright, who took an initial shot that was saved by the JC goalkeeper. Elliott went for another shot, which tied the game at one goal apiece without a single second remaining in regulation play.
"When we scored with no time on the clock to take the contest into overtime, it showed that we still had a lot of fight," said Cillizza.
The first overtime mirrored the second half of play, as neither the Cardinals nor the Eagles could not register a goal for the win.
At the 95:12 minute mark of the second overtime, Juniata snapped the Cardinals' 10-game win streak. Bilheimer scored the game winning goal on a pass from Kortney Showers off a penalty corner.
"We faced a different beast in overtime, the 7v7," said Cillizza. "A formation like that is different animal and ultimately, we didn't come out on top."
In spite of the loss, Catholic still retains the No. 1 slot among its Landmark Conference foes and host the semifinal round of the championship tournament on Wednesday, November 5 against the University of Scranton at Cardinal Stadium in Washington, D.C. The Cards defeated the Royals 2-1 on Saturday, October 18 in Scranton, Pa.
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