COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – Trailing at home for the first time all season to a Dickinson team firing on all cylinders, the Ursinus College field hockey team was forced to dig deep in Saturday's Centennial Conference semifinal. The Bears righted the ship in a big way, scoring four unanswered markers to roar past the fourth-seeded Red Devils, 5-2, and into the conference championship game for the fourth straight season.
Top-seeded Ursinus (15-4) will go for its fourth consecutive CC crown at 1 p.m. Sunday against third-seeded Franklin & Marshall, a 4-1 winner over Muhlenberg in the second semifinal. The Bears and Diplomats are meeting in the conference championship game for the fourth straight season, with Ursinus claiming the previous three title tilts.
The Bears improved to 24-2 all-time in the CC championship tournament and advanced to their 12th final; Ursinus has never lost a CC title game, a streak of championships interrupted only by F&M in 2012. Ursinus is undefeated in 17 all-time meetings with Dickinson (12-7) and has won 15 consecutive home games against Division III competition.
Senior Amber Steigerwalt scored both first-half goals for the Bears, who found themselves embroiled in an entertaining, back-and-forth stanza that left the teams deadlocked at 2-apiece. A yellow card on Dickinson early in the second half was all the ammunition Ursinus needed to break away.
The Bears took ruthless advantage of the five-minute player surplus, scoring just 19 seconds after the penalty and again 75 seconds later. First, freshman Erin Saybolt sent a pass from the top of the circle to Colleen Leahy at the left post, and the senior made easy work of the open cage to give Ursinus the lead for good with 28:47 to play.
Just over a minute later, junior Brooke Overly stepped in front of an errant pass and dribbled into the circle before firing a lunging shot into the back of the cage to make it 4-2.
A stunning two-goal lead suddenly in hand, a Bears defense that was stretched to the limit in the first half eventually found its footing. Ursinus limited Dickinson to just two shots in the second half, and neither was on target. Senior Ann Kopera added an insurance tally with 1:26 remaining, inserting a corner to senior Aliki Torrence and depositing her classmate's return pass from the top of the circle.
The Bears appeared ready to romp when Steigerwalt started the scoring just six minutes in, tapping in a rebound after a shot by Overly to get the home side off and running. But the Red Devils had other ideas.
Dickinson cashed in on the last of five consecutive penalty corners to get even, with Taylor Bednar re-directing a pass at the left post and in to level the score at 1 at the 11:07 mark. Dickinson surged ahead less than four minutes later, as Catherine Perlmutter passed across the goalmouth to Delaney Ahn for a tap-in at the far post.
Ahn's goal put the Bears in unfamiliar territory, facing their first home deficit all year. Steigerwalt made sure it didn't last long, finishing a pass from Kopera with 12:53 remaining in the first period. The teams went into the break even, though the Red Devils held a 13-12 advantage in shots and took nine penalty corners to six for Ursinus.
After being held to three shots in a 5-1 Bears victory on the same field two weeks prior, Dickinson fired off 10 shots in the first 12 minutes and finished with 15 for the game. Ursinus owned a 23-15 edge in shots, including 11-2 in the second half, and took all six penalty corners after intermission to finish with a 12-9 margin.
Chelsea Kramer and Merritt Davis tallied four shots each for Dickinson. Heather Meeder ended on 11 saves, and Kim Monteferante notched a defensive save late in the first period.
Steigerwalt paced all players with seven shots, and Kopera and Overly chipped in five each. Singer posted two saves.
