Championship Central

MADISON, N.J. (Field Hockey) – The third-seeded Misericordia Cougars upset the top-seeded Fairleigh Dickinson Univeristy – Florham Devils in double overtime by a score of 4-3 on Saturday to claim their first-ever MAC Freedom Field  Hockey Championship.
 
Jennifer O'Neill was named the MAC Freedom Championship MVP after scoring the final two goals for Misericordia.

Suzhaunna Lerch and Megan Yeager scored the first two goals for the Cougars, while Lindsay Hischak had two assists, and Lerch and Samantha Partington adding an assist each.

FDU-Florham got on the board first on a goal from Kim Davis, but the Cougars responded in under a minute with their first goal by Lerch off a feed from Hischak.

In the 11^th minute, Yeager gave Misericorida their first lead of the game and the Cougars went into the half up 2-1.

Five minutes into the second half the Cougars struck again, this time Hischak passed the ball over to Lerch who played it to O'Neill who scored and gave Misericordia a 3-1 lead.

The Devils got one back in the 52^nd minute from Makayla Pak, making the score 3-2 and from there turned up the pressure trying to equalize.

FDU-Florham tied the game, 3-3, in the 63^rd minute when Alicia Grotyohann scored off a rebound.

Misericordia had a chance to win in regulation when O'Neill got a breakaway on goal but FDU-Florham keeper Amy Defnet was up to the task.

In the first overtime, the Cougars recorded eight shots and forced Defnet to make several tough saves.

In the second overtime, Angela Pasquini made a tremendous kick save that kept the score level.

Six minutes later, in the 95^th minute, Partington passed the ball to O'Neill who scored from seven yards out.

Early on in the first half Partington made a great defensive save to keep the score 0-0.

Pasquini made 12 saves in the game.
 
Misericordia earns the MAC Freedom’s automatic qualifier (AQ) to the NCAA Division III Championship. The field will be announced on Monday, Nov. 9 in a press release on www.NCAA.com.