WASHINGTON – A late, fourth-quarter goal from Sophie Willemse was the lone separator between the Eagles of the American University field hockey team when they took on the visiting Terriers of Boston University in the Patriot League semifinals, winning 1-0.
 
American advances to the Patriot League Championship on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Jacobs Complex. The No. 1 seeded Eagles will face off with the No. 2 Lafayette Leopards. The Leopards defeated No. 3 seed Bucknell, 2-1, in the second semifinal game.

Quick Notables

• Willemse's goal was her third of the season and first since the Eagles faced off with Longwood in their fourth game of the season on September 8.
• With four saves, Bryn Underwood kept her eighth clean sheet of the season and now boasts a season save percentage of .802.

How It Happened
The teams played a scoreless first three quarters, trading shots and corners, with AU having the offensive advantage.
 
Across the first three frames, BU only took two penalty corners, one in each of the first two periods, and five shots, while American took seven penalty corners and 18 shots.
 
The Eagles got on board midway through the fourth quarter in the 52nd minute. Willemse was attempting to break through the Terriers' defense and slammed the ball into a crowd of BU defenders and earned a free hit at the top of the circle when it bounced off a foot.
 
Restarting quickly, Willemse pushed the ball into the circle and smacked it into the cage from distance to give the Eagles the 1-0 lead.
 
Boston pulled their goalkeeper with two minutes to play to put on an extra field player but was unable to cut the AU lead with the advantage.
 
From Head Coach Jennings
"This is playoff hockey. This is what happens. They're fighting for their season too. So, at the end of the day we expected this type of game.
 
"I think that both teams in the second semifinal are outstanding, so whoever it is we know we'll have our hands full. We just have to concentrate on being our best self and hopefully we can find a way to get another tournament championship."

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American 2, Boston University 0
Scoring: AU – Sophie Willemse, 51:44
Shots: AU 21 (5/6/7/3), BU 8 (3/1/1/3)
Penalty Corners: AU 7 (1/4/2/0), BU 2 (1/1/0/0)
Goalkeeper Saves: AU 4 (Bryn Underwood, 60:00, 4 saves, 0 goals allowed); BU 5 (Kate Thomason, 27:55, 5 saves, 1 goal allowed)
Records: AU 12-7 (6-0 PL), BU 6-11 (3-3 PL)