ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The Roberts Wesleyan University field hockey team put forth an historic effort on Wednesday night.
Playing in the first postseason game in the four-year history of the program, sophomore
Natalee Lawrence scored twice late in the second quarter as the Redhawks rallied to defeat Dominican 2-1 in an East Coast Conference semifinal played in front of a large and enthusiastic crowd at Redhawks Turf Field.
The victory sends the second-seeded Redhawks (11-7) into the first-ever ECC Championship game against top-seeded and host Mercy at noon on Saturday. Roberts and Mercy shared the ECC regular-season championship with 8-2 conference records.
Dominican, the third seed, took an early 1-0 lead as Saniyah Hines scored off a penalty corner 34 seconds into the second quarter.
Roberts responded off a penalty corner of its own as Lawrence converted an assist from
Mary Catherine Maloney with 4:25 to play in the half for her 10
th goal of the season.
Lawrence collected the eventual winner 3:34 later when she redirected a pass from
Makena Tooley for her school record 11
th of the season with 51 seconds remaining in the half.
Both teams had seven shots in the game. Roberts put four on goal and Dominican put two, both in the first half. Roberts split its regular-season series with the Chargers.
Senior
Avery Richardson made one save for the Redhawks, who have also established a program record for victories this season.
