Washington & Jefferson Wins First Empire 8 Field Hockey Title
UTICA, N.Y. – Washington & Jefferson College juniors Jennifer Marabella (Sinking Spring, Pa./Holy Name) and Erin Barno (Camp Hill, Pa./Cedar Cliff) scored 2:16 apart early in the second half to help Washington and Jefferson College win its first Empire 8 Conference Field Hockey Championship as the Presidents defeated Nazareth 2-1 Sunday afternoon at Utica College.
The Presidents, who won for the first time in five Empire 8 championship appearances, earn the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament. The Presidents’ first NCAA game in school history will be on Wednesday (Nov. 9) in the first round (game time will be between 1:00 pm and 6:00 pm). The brackets are scheduled to be released on NCAA.com Sunday night at 10:30 pm.
The Presidents’ field hockey run to the national playoffs is a remarkable story as the program won its first conference championship in the 10th year since the sport was brought back to campus following a two-decade hiatus. In that first season (2002), W&J was outscored by an 82-1 margin.
Junior defender Meghan Thornlow (Hudson, Ohio/Hudson) {below} was selected as the tournament’s Most Valuable Player after serving as the nucleus of the Empire 8’s leading defensive unit. The Presidents’ defense allowed only 13 shots on goal during the conference tournament.
Nazareth (7-12), the tournament’s No. 3 seed, led for a majority of the game after scoring 2:17 into the match. Lindsey Smith set up Maria Mantini for a goal off a penalty corner.
Fourth-seeded W&J, which upset top-seeded Utica in the semifinals, outshot the Golden Flyers 10-4 in the first half, but could not get a shot past goalie Sophia Rhodes. That changed in the second half; however, as junior forward Jennifer Marabella (Sinking Spring, Pa./Holy Name) cashed in her 15th goal of the year off a pass from junior forward Arielle King (Hershey, Pa./Hershey). The goal came after a penalty corner.
Junior midfielder Erin Barno (Camp Hill, Pa./Cedar Cliff) struck for the eventual game-winning goal with 21:55 remaining. Junior midfielder Elizabeth Herb (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Allegheny) set up Barno, who found the back of the net from 15 yards out.
Nazareth had four penalty corners the rest of the way, but could only record two shots, both of which were saved by senior Shelby Colyer (Oxford, Ohio/Talawanda). Colyer produced six total saves and improved her record to 6-2 since returning from a preseason injury.
The Presidents, who held a 20-10 shot advantage, will be looking to avenge regular-season losses to either Sunday opponent, Stevens or Nazareth. W&J and Stevens played for the last three E8 titles, while Nazareth topped W&J in the 2007 championship match at Cameron Stadium.
W&J is led by Head Coach Jomara Coghlan, who now owns a 64-29 record in her fifth season with the Presidents. Washington & Jefferson’s 14-4 record is one victory shy of tying the 2010 squad’s school-record victory total (15-4).