By Alexandra Parado
Sports Editor
Ranked seventh by the NCAA, the Lions competed for the championship title in the NCAA Championship tournament, but could not make it past the quarterfinals.
In the first round of the tournament, the team faced Keystone College and went on to the second round against Vassar College. The team was defeated by Middlebury College in the quarterfinals, which took away its chance to be champion.
On Sunday, Nov. 11, the team swept Keystone with a 3-0 triumph in the opening round of the NCAA tournament.
Sophomore forward Tori Tiefenthaler got the Lions on the board by scoring a goal off an assist from junior forward Cayla Andrews. Andrews was able to get a goal for herself, earning her seventh NCAA tournament goal.
In the second half, junior forward Jordan Allegretto scored the final goal of the game, extending the lead to 3-0.
Junior goalkeeper Maddie Beaumont only faced one of Keystone’s attempted shots, but she rejected the ball from going into the net. Freshman defender Lauren Cammarata and senior defenders Sidney Padilla and Jackie Schwartz held down the defensive side to prevent Keystone from scoring.
The Lions outshot Keystone 42-1 with 32 of those shots being on goal.
The team then traveled to Middlebury, Vermont to continue the tournament.
On Saturday, Nov. 10, the College overpowered Vassar College in a close game of 2-1.
Late in the first half, Andrews scored off of a penalty corner by junior forward/midfielder Kayla Peterson.
Vassar did not score until the second half, forcing the game into two overtimes. Neither team was able to score, which resulted in nine shootout rounds in attempt to break the tie. After battling for eight rounds, junior forward Tori Hannah broke the tie in the ninth round and Beaumont made a stop that soon lead to victory.
Beaumont recorded a new career-high of 18 saves this match.
The Lions moved on to the quarterfinals against Middlebury College on Sunday.
It was difficult for the team to score in the first half of the game, and Middlebury scored three points within 10 minutes of the start of the game.
The second half started with a hot pair of goals by Middlebury, giving them a 5-point lead until Padilla scored the Lions’ only goal.
Middlebury outshot the College 20-5 and Beaumont made eight saves for the team.
The fight was not enough as the Lions fell to the 2017 NCAA Field Hockey Champions, 5-1. The team wrapped up its season on Sunday, Nov. 11 with an overall record of 16-5.
