Top-Seeded Monmouth and Third-Seeded William & Mary Advance to CAA Field Hockey Championship
Hunter Peters
Newark, Del. (Nov. 3, 2023) - Top-seeded Monmouth and third-seeded William & Mary advanced to the CAA Field Hockey Championship game following semifinal victories on Friday at Fred P. Rullo Stadium on the campus of the University of Delaware.
The Hawks and Tribe will meet at 1 p.m. on Sunday to decide the 2023 CAA Field Hockey Champion.
It marks the first time in championship history that Monmouth and William & Mary will face each other in the conference tournament. The Tribe upended the Hawks 3-2 in their regular season matchup, improving to 6-0 all-time against Monmouth.
No. 1 Monmouth 2, No. 4 Northeastern 1 | BOX SCORE | PHOTO GALLERY
India Shakespeare netted the game-winning goal in the 56th minute, sending top-seeded Monmouth to the CAA Championship game with a 2-1 win over fourth-seeded Northeastern.
The Hawks improved to 12-5 this season after winning their first CAA Tournament game in program history. Northeastern concludes its season 8-10 in year one under the direction of head coach Pam Spuehler.
Monmouth will make its first-ever CAA Championship game appearance on Sunday at 1 p.m. against third-seeded William & Mary.
Shakespeare tipped in a pass from Sofia Fouces just three minutes after Northeastern tied the match at 1-1 in the final period to give the Hawks the lead for good. Calista Schwartz entered the pass to Fouces at the top of the circle before finding Shakespeare for her third goal this season. It marks the sixth assist for Fouces this season, who leads the CAA with 40 points.
It was a defensive battle through the first 30 minutes, resulting in a scoreless tie at the break. There were six combined penalty corner opportunities in the first period – Monmouth earning four and Northeastern with two – but the Huskies mustered the only shot on goal through a scoreless 15 minutes. Neither team registered a shot in the second period, and the scoreboard showed zeros at the halftime horn.
Jess Tucker broke a scoreless tie in the 41st minute, converting a penalty corner opportunity assisted by Nora Goddard-Despot. It was Monmouth’s third corner of the period and seventh in the match, which gave Tucker her eighth goal this season.
Alana Fields tallied the equalizer for Northeastern in the 53rd minute, scoring her first goal of the year. With the Huskies a woman up due to a Monmouth yellow card, Fields put home a rebound right in front of the cage to level the score at 1-1.
Monmouth edged Northeastern 13-7 in shots and 6-4 in shots on goal. The Hawks also earned 10 penalty corners to just five for the Huskies.
No. 3 William & Mary 2, No. 2 Drexel 0 | BOX SCORE | PHOTO GALLERY
Two first-half goals from
Pyper Friedman lifted third-seeded William & Mary over second-seeded Drexel 2-0 in the second CAA Field Hockey semifinal to send the Tribe to the conference title game for the first time since 2018.
William & Mary moves to 10-8 this season in its first CAA Tournament victory since winning the 2018 championship contest. Drexel finishes the year 14-6 with the setback after recording its most wins since 2012.
Drexel outshot William & Mary 15-6 in the contest, including 14-4 over the final 45 minutes; however, Maddie George made a season-high 10 saves, and the Tribe made good on early opportunities to secure the victory.
There was just one shot on goal in the first period, but it turned into a 1-0 lead for William & Mary as Friedman tallied her sixth goal this season to give W&M the early advantage. The Tribe manufactured a penalty corner opportunity with 56 seconds remaining in quarter one, and Friedman – the inserter – tapped home the rebound off the initial shot attempt.
The second goal came in the 27th minute on a similar opportunity. This time, Friedman inserted the penalty corner before receiving the pass back from Allison Goodwin and flipping it past the keeper to double the W&M lead. It marks the third multi-goal effort for Friedman this season and the first assist for Goodwin.
The Tribe defensive unit was stout all game and buckled down in the second half as we went scoreless over the final 33 minutes. It marks the fourth shutout for W&M this season, and the Tribe has held its past three opponents off the scoreboard. William & Mary has not allowed a goal in the past 184:31 minutes of game time.
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