WASHINGTON - In what was perhaps the defensive performance of the season, the No. 22 American University field hockey team (9-3, 4-0 PL) outlasted nonconference foe Cornell (7-6, 2-2 Ivy) on Sunday in a 3-1 victory on Senior Day. This is the second win of the weekend for the Eagles and fourth consecutive as they sit only one victory away from the 2021 Patriot League regular season title.

NOTEWORTHY

• Although it was AU's senior class who stepped up offensively during the 6-0 rout of Holy Cross on Saturday, it was all about the fifth-years on Sunday. Noor Coenen ended her four-game scoring drought with two against the Big Red, including the game-winner just before halftime. Classmate Gaby de Kock, who scored a pair of goals on Saturday, added another late in the first quarter.
• Senior Georgia Davies, junior Charllene Boshoff, and sophomore Imogen Hatton pitched in an assist each.
• Senior goalkeeper Dani Acuna played all 60 minutes in her first career start and had three saves on the day.
• American led with nine corners to Cornell's six, but the two teams were even with eight shots each.
• Defender Davies was absolutely dominant on the back line for the Eagles, disrupting the Big Red's transition and holding together AU's defense while the team was down three players late in the game with Coenen, senior forward Hannah Moser and senior defender Maura Phelan on the sideline with yellow cards.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• A much more even battle than Saturday's shutout against Holy Cross, it was a midfield battle for the first 10 minutes before Cornell managed to get the first look of the day with a pair of penalty corner opportunities in the 12th minute. The initial attempt from Caroline Ramsey was saved by senior goalkeeper Dani Acuna while the second look, also from Ramsey, was blocked wide by the Eagles defense.
• AU made the next push and picked up a corner of their own. Although the initial shot from Phelan, who scored off a corner on Saturday, was saved by Cornell goalkeeper Laura Kubit, de Kock was there to knock in the rebound to give AU a 1-0 lead in the first quarter.
• Cornell found the response in the fifth minute of the second quarter with a successful corner that put Ramsey on the score sheet with Kate Macgillis and Bridget Mahoney credited with the assist.
• Neither team was able to get a good look at the cage until the final minute of the half when American drew its second corner of the game. Boshoff received the insertion from de Kock and sent the long cross to the other side of the circle where Coenen was waiting to fire home her first goal since the 3-0 shutout against LIU on September 24.
• The Eagles dominated in the third quarter, pushing to expand its 2-1 lead from the first half. Within the first six minutes of the stanza, AU picked up three penalty corner opportunities and got off four shots but was unable to find the back of the cage. With less than five minutes remaining in the quarter, Cornell's Bridget Mahoney was sidelined with the first yellow card of the day, putting American up a player and the team capitalized with Coenen finishing off a penalty corner with assists from Hatton and Davies.
• Although Mahoney's card ran out in the opening seconds of the fourth quarter, the Big Red continued to play down in numbers after Isabella Palde got called for a yellow of her own with a minute left in the third.
• Cards continued to fly in the final 15 minutes, wth American's Moser, Coenen and Phelan all benched with yellows within three minutes of each other. With Davies and junior Charllene Boshoff at the helm of AU's defense, the Eagles managed to hold off the Big Red's onslaught despite being down three players for two full minutes. Cornell managed to draw only one corner in that time, but the shot from Antonia Packard went wide of the cage. 
• The Eagles continued to hold on in the final 10 minutes to come away with the 3-1 win.

NEXT UP
American will close the regular season on the road with games at Boston University on October 23, and Colgate on October 30. The Eagles will need to win just one of the two remaining games to secure the Patriot League regular season title and right to host in the postseason. 




For the latest on American University Field Hockey, stay tuned to AUEagles.com and follow the team on Twitter (@AU_FieldHockey) and Instagram (@aufieldhockey).