GRANVILLE, Ohio -- The Earlham College field hockey team achieved a program milestone at Denison on Thursday evening. The Quakers defeated the Big Red in seven rounds of a penalty shootout to win their 13th game of the season and tie the program record for most wins in a season.
The Quakers improved to 13-2 (4-1 NCAC) while the Big Red fell to 7-6 (4-1 NCAC).
After neither team had managed to score in the 60 minutes of regular time, the teams headed to two 10 minute overtime periods where the score was still kept at zeroes.
Heading into penalties, it was
Reilly Swislosky of Earlham up first. The Denison goalkeeper made the save on the play and the Big Red offense followed up with a score.
Up next for Earlham was
Denise Bergdolt who slotted a shot between the goalkeeper's legs to equal the mark in the shootout. Denison made its following shot, and another miss from the Quakers kept the score at 2-1.
Meg Murphy came out off her line and made a save against the third shooter for Denison. When
Regan Seeman stepped up for her attempt, she initially beat out the Denison keeper but could not get her shot off fast enough and her attempt was blocked on a second effort from the Big Red.
Murphy followed up with another save against the fourth penalty taker for Denison.
Guin Schalck made the final attempt for the Quakers in the initial wave of penalty shots. With the game on the line, Murphy made a diving save on the Denison shot to keep the shootout going into extra rounds.
Denison took the first shot of the sudden-death rounds which was kicked wide by Murphy. Schalck was stopped on her second penalty attempt by the stick of the Big Red goalkeeper.
Murphy made another sudden-death save by diving to knock her opponent's shot up and over the goal. When Bergdolt came back up for her second attempt, she had the opportunity to put the Big Red away for good in the shootout. That's just what she did, with a move to her left and then a cut back to her right she split the Denison goalkeeper and placed the shot between her legs for the winning score.
The Quakers were out-shot 10-6 during regular play on the evening. Earlham also only managed one penalty corner, in the fourth frame of play compared to four for Denison.
Murphy recorded seven saves in her 80 minute shutout.
Earlham, Kenyon and Denison are now all tied at the top of the NCAC standings with a 4-1 record. The battle will be heating up in the final week and a half of competition before the four-team tournament begins.
Earlham will play at Ohio Wesleyan (3-2 NCAC), the current fourth-place team on Saturday at 11 a.m. before hosting DePauw (3-3 NCAC) and Wittenberg (2-3 NCAC) next week to end the regular season.
