Nov. 2, 2003

Defending Patriot League champion American topped Army in Sunday's regular-season ending match, 2-1 in overtime, to clinch homefield advantage in the 2003 PL Women's Soccer Tournament, which begins Friday with a semifinal doubleheader at 11 a.m. The same four teams that advanced to the 2002 PL Tournament will also compete for the 2003 crown at AU's Reeves Field.

The Eagles (9-7-1, 6-1-0 PL) tied Navy (15-4-1, 6-1-0 PL) for the regular-season title, but earned hosting rights thanks to a 5-4 overtime victory over the Midshipmen in Annapolis on Oct. 14. As the top seed, the Eagles will face Army (9-9-0, 3-4-0 PL) again after the Black Knights advanced to the tournament for the second-straight year.

Navy will be No. 2 seed and square off against third-seeded Colgate (11-7-1, 5-1-1 PL) in the second half of Friday's twinbill. The Mids topped the Raiders during the regular season by a 1-0 margin.

The League Championship match, which also determines the PL's automatic qualifier for the NCAA Tournament, will be played Sunday at 1 p.m.

The tournament field was set Saturday morning when Navy posted a 4-0 victory over Bucknell, knocking the Bison out of contention and clinching a berth for Army. AU, Navy and Colgate had already clinched tournament berths heading into the final weekend of the season.

But AU still had a shot at hosting the Tournament, and the Eagles clinched that right with Sunday's victory over Army. Saturday's other League matches included a 3-1 Colgate win at Lafayette and a 1-0 Lehigh victory over visiting Holy Cross.

Sunday at AU, Soph. midfielder Simone Konig's corner kick sailed into the far corner of the net, propelling the Eagles to a 2-1 overtime.

American opened the scoring in the 19th minute with a header by Christina Gonzalez. Konig streaked down the right side and crossed the ball to Gonzalez on the far side, who then floated a header over the approaching goaltender into the top right corner.

Army knotted the score at one less than 14 minutes later, when Emily Cook snaked a pass through the middle of the American defense and Jen Pascucci chipped it over the head of goalkeeper Lauren Wohl.

Both teams remained scoreless in the second stanza. American fired four shots in the second half, compared with Army's three. The Eagles had 12 shots on the game and Army fired six. Just over four minutes into overtime, Konig's corner kick from the left side curved to the far post.

Saturday morning at Annapolis, Navy freshman Meggie Curran scored a pair of goals, while senior forward Stacy Finley pitched in three assists to lead the Navy to a 4-0 shutout over Bucknell (7-5-3/2-3-2 PL).

Navy scored quickly when freshman midfielder Molly Burd used finesse and skill to beat her defender and fire in the game's first goal at the 9:09 mark, her first game winner. The Mids added to their lead when defender Claire Henry served the ball down the field to Finley. While Finley likely would have been able to score the goal, she dished the ball off to Curran at the last minute and Curran's goal gave the Mids a 2-0 advantage in the 26th minute.

On a day honoring its four senior members, it seemed fitting team captain Amelia Sheveland would get a piece of the action. Sheveland benefitted from a play generated by Finley near midfield, as Finley had a breakaway. She sent the ball to Curran, who then served Sheveland for Navy's third goal of the game.

Just five minutes later, it looked as though Finley might get a goal of her own, however, her shot was stopped by Bucknell goalkeeper Samantha Hecht. Hecht, however, was unable to corral the ball and Curran came through for the second-chance opportunity to score in the 77th minute.

Navy outshot the Bison, 9-6, in the game and the Mids' defense held Bucknell without a shot on goal. Junior keeper Kim Bonafede recorded her 17th-career shutout and sixth of the season.

In a non-League battle Sunday night, Navy snapped a five-game win streak with a 2-1 loss at Maryland. Fr. Molly Burd's goal in the 65th minute was the first goal scored by the Midshipmen in four games against the Terps.

Saturday afternoon at Easton's Metzgar Field, Colgate finished its regular season in impressive fashion with a 3-1 victory over Lafayette. Kelly Kuss registered her first career hat-trick, giving her 11 goals for the season.

Kuss scored her first goal five minutes into the match. She was set up by freshmen Kelly Niland and Megan Bergman. At the 23:23 mark, Kuss put the Raiders up by two with an assist from Kate Barrett. The assist gives Barrett 43 points for the season and 95 for her career, tying her for third place in the Colgate record book.

Kuss added an insurance goal just for good measure at the 73:39 mark putting the Raiders up 3-0.

Lafayette scored with six minutes to play when Meghan Ramsey tallied her fifth goal of the season. The Leopards outshot the Raiders, 11-9, and held the advantage in corners by a 5-4 count.

Across the Valley, Lehigh wrapped up the winningest season in team history by beating Holy Cross, 1-0. Lehigh scored near the end of the first half to take the advantage, and held off a tough Holy Cross team in the second half to earn its ninth win on the season.

Freshman Gina Lewandowski did the scoring for Lehigh in the 37th minute of the game. Lauren Calabrese found her on the right hand side of the field just past midfield, and Lewandowski did the rest, weaving her way through three defenders before blasting one towards the right corner of the net.

Lewandowski finished the season with 12 goals, second best all-time in a single season at Lehigh. Goalkeeper Erin Iwaskiewicz recorded her career-high sixth shutout of the season, but the defense made it easy on her as they held Holy Cross to only two shots on goal.