WORCESTER, Mass. – It took until midway through the third period for the scoreless stalemate to break, but when Holy Cross went ahead on a penalty stroke in the 38th minute, that was it, and the Crusaders earned the 1-0 win over the American University field hockey team.

QUICK NOTABLES

• American's (6-6, 2-2) loss to Holy Cross (4-8, 1-2) gave the Crusaders their first conference win and puts AU at .500 win-loss percentage in overall and in the league.
• Junior goalkeeper Bryn Underwood recorded seven saves for the match and blocked all shots on goal during the run of play.
• Julia Kraft, Federica Turina Dellamaggiore, and Frederiek Thierry all recorded one shot apiece in the game. Charllene Boshoff had a team-leading two shots on goal.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The first half of the game saw a 4-to-1 shots on goal advantage over American, but Underwood's four first half saves kept the game scoreless.
• A penalty stroke in the 38th minute was awarded to Holy Cross. Underwood managed to correctly judge the trajectory of the shot, but couldn't stop the ball from going into the goal and the Crusaders took a 1-0 lead.
• American earned a penalty corner in the 44th minute, but Boshoff's resulting shot, though promising, was just wide of the goal and the third period ended with Holy Cross still in the lead 1-0.
• In the 55th minute, Holy Cross was issued a green card, and the Crusaders were issued another in the 58th minute, giving AU a 1-athlete advantage on the field for most of the final five minutes, but they were unable to capitalize.
• Despite an offensive push in the final quarter of the game, American was only able to register one shot on goal in the period and ended up falling to the Crusaders 1-0. 

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Holy Cross has a 13-5 shot advantage in the game. The Crusaders out-shot the Eagles 7-4 in the first half and 6-3 in the second half. The Crusaders also held the advantage in shots on goal in the game 8-2.
• Holy Cross held the penalty corner advantage, 4-2. The Crusaders held American to one corner in each of the halves.
• Three green cards were handed out during the game, all to Holy Cross. A yellow card was also issued, one to American in the first quarter.

UP NEXT

• Up next for the Eagles, they return home to Jacobs Complex against Lehigh on Friday, October 14 at 3 p.m.
• After that, they're on the road again against Bucknell on Saturday, October 22 at 11 a.m.

KEEP UP WITH US

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