Femke Strien Scores Game-Winning Goal to Keep Delaware’s Season Alive in NCAA Tournament
Hunter Peters
BOX SCORE
NEWARK, Del. (Nov. 10, 2021) – Femke Strien scored the game-winning goal with nine seconds remaining in overtime to lift Delaware over Fairfield 4-3 in the opening round of the NCAA Field Hockey Tournament.
Delaware improves to 13-8 on the season and advances to face top-seeded Rutgers on Friday, November 12 at 11 a.m. Fairfield falls to 14-8 after the setback with its season, ending in the opening round of the NCAA tournament.
It was a game of runs as Delaware scored the first three goals of the game before Fairfield rallied off three straight goals in the final 22 minutes of regulation to force overtime.
The Blue Hens turned on the pressure in the overtime period with three straight possessions recording high-quality shots before Strien converted her sixth goal of the season to give Delaware the victory.
Kiki Oudshoorn started the scoring in the first quarter with her ninth goal of the season and third goal in the past two games. Sian Emslie scored in the second quarter to give the Blue Hens a 2-0 lead that they took into halftime.
In the 35
th minute Grace Hoepfner scored off a Julia Duffhuis assist to give Delaware a 3-0 advantage. Fairfield responded three minutes later as Julianna Kratz tallied the first goal of the game for the Stags. Later in the period, Malen Iglesias scored on a penalty stroke to cut the Fairfield deficit to one heading into the fourth quarter.
Delaware fended off four penalty corners in the final 10 minutes of regulation before Iglesias converted on a fifth penalty corner with four seconds remaining on the clock. Iglesias led the Stags with two goals and four points. She increased her season total to 24 points and 11 goals, both of which led the team.
Fairfield held advantages in shots (16-13), shots on goal (10-7) and penalty corners (9-4). However, Delaware recorded seven saves behind six saves from Lizzie Gaebel in the cage.
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