Oct. 25, 2008

Box Score

WASHINGTON - The No. 18 American University Field Hockey team moved into sole possession of first place in the Patriot League with a decisive 3-1 victory over Lafayette on Saturday at Jacobs Field. The Leopards were previously unbeaten in the conference. The Eagles clinched the regular season title and the right to host the Patriot League Tournament.

Lafayette (10-6, 3-1 PL) held the majority of play in the first half, as they outshot American (9-6, 4-0) by a 4-1 margin but could not beat Eagles goalie Alyssa Poorman. Poorman made two saves in the opening 35 minutes of play and the teams went into the intermission in a scoreless tie.

Anne van Erp took just 45 seconds to change things in the second half, when she tallied her first goal of the season to give the Eagles a 1-0 lead. Irene Schickhardt scored her team-leading 13th goal of the season and upped the score to 2-0 at 57:13, which would hold up as the game-winner.

Christine Fingerhuth added an insurance goal at 63:46. Lafayette ruined the shutout at 66:22 when Meghan Cicchi scored off a pass from Maggie Condon to give the Eagles the 4-1 win.

"Lafayette played a great game and posed a lot of challenges for us particularly in the first half but I was very impressed with the way we kept our composure and then exerted ourselves to take the win," said AU head coach Steve Jennings. "We stepped up our discipline and urgency in the second half and had some clinical goal finishing from our strikers to capture the momentum. Most of all, I am proud that we honored our seniors on senior day--Meg, Jes, Irene and Katie have meant so much to this program and it was fitting that we earned them a win."

Lafayette had a 7-6 margin in shots and a 6-4 edge in penalty corners. The Eagles return to action on Nov. 1 at Lehigh. The game will be played at Lafayette at 8 p.m.