Franklin & Marshall College

COLLEGEVILLE, Pa.- The No. 10 Franklin & Marshall field hockey team (10-4, 4-3 Centennial Conference) were on the wrong side of a 1-0 double-overtime scoreline at No. 15 Ursinus (10-4, 4-3 Centennial Conference), as the Bears won with the game's lone goal in the 76th minute from a penalty corner.

Meghan Dole stopped seven of the eight shots that she faced. Caitlin Hoover led F&M with four shots, while Maya Rorick, Ava Lofgren, and Hannah Fitzgerald each recorded two shots on goal. Melissa Sessler had one defensive save.

F&M pressed for a goal inside of the first three minutes, as Lofgren forced a penalty corner when her shot hit a Ursinus foot on the way through. The penalty corner was injected to Rorick on the nearside, but her effort from the circle's edge was saved. Donadoni was first to the rebound, but her first-time attempt missed left.

Lofgren then had a close-range back-handed attempt stopped in the seventh minute of the first quarter. Ursinus forced a couple of stops on their first penalty corner from Dole, as the penalty corner injection was saved from the top of the circle. The rebound rocketed back to the shooter, who tried an aerial backhanded attempt that was again stopped. 

Ursinus opened the second quarter with a redirect missing wide three minutes into play, while Hoover's attempt to hit a line-breaking pass from Megan Dadio on the bounce missed wide a couple of minutes later. The momentum stayed with Ursinus in the final ten minutes of the half, as they generated four shots from a run of four penalty corners. The Bears' best chance of the run saw Sessler clear the ball off the goal line after a shot initially deflected off Dole, while Dole would later make a stop with her pads to deny a ball from reaching the far post. The Bears held a 7-6 shot advantage through the first 30 minutes with a 6-1 advantage in penalty corners.

F&M returned from the break with a run of four shots in the first three minutes, although they were still unable to hit the back of the Ursinus cage. Fitzgerald opened the attack by putting a shot on target from behind the penalty spot, while Rorick saw another attempt from a penalty corner denied on the injection-side of the circle. Hoover then saw one effort blocked by a Ursinus stick before an attempt to turn and fire from five yards out missed to the right. Ursinus soon forced a save from Dole on a quick counter, as Dole lunged to get a pad to a ball heading to her bottom-right corner. The final 12 minutes of the period saw no shots from the sides.

The Diplomats began the fourth quarter by forcing two more stops, as Lofgren saw a close-range shot from a Bella Konchar cross blocked before Fitzgerald worked past multiple defenders on her way to the goalline before being denied from a yard away. Ursinus had two shots saved in the final minute of regulation, as Dole saved a few high-paced shots from penalty corners to send the game to overtime.

F&M's lone effort of the overtime period sailed wide four minutes in, while the Bears pressed for a game-winner in the final minutes of the period. Dadio and Rorick each blocked penalty-corner attempts, while Dole stopped another penalty-corner shot from the top of the circle. The first shot of the second overtime period came midway through the period, and it proved to be the game winner. A penalty corner injection was worked across the edge of the circle before being fired towards the goal. A redirect split Dole and a defender to find the injector unmarked at the far post for a tap-in at the goalline. 

The Bears maintained a 15-14 shot advantage, with nine shots on goal against six from F&M.

F&M heads to Dickinson for the final road game of the regular season on Saturday, October 24, with an 11 a.m. start time.