South Mountaineer Volume 37, Issue 10

              SPORTS
Contents
Page 9
♦Olympic sports update
and schedules
♦ Wrestle-offs lineup
Page 10
♦ Lehigh/Delaware
football game recap
♦ A look at upcoming
rivals Holy Cross and
Lafayette
Page 11
♦ Football: Ben Talbott
♦ Women's soccer: recap of
first post-season game
SOUTH
MOUNTAINEER
Volume 37, Issue 10
November 8,1994
Field Hockey wins Patriot League Championship
Engineers defeat Lafayette, 2-1, on penalty strokes in
league championship game
By MICHAEL MOLDE
Sports Information Assistant
There were a lot of smiles on the faces of
Lehigh University field hockey coaches, players
and fans on Sunday afternoon at Lafayette
College's Metzger Field and for good reason.
In one ofthe biggest games in Lehigh
University field hockey history, the Engineers
captured their first Patriot League championship
by defeating the top-seeded Leopards of
Lafayette, 2-1, on penalty strokes. Lehigh (11-
5-3) thus becomes the winner ofthe first ever
Patriot League post-season tournament. The
league cnampion Has been crowned at the end
ofthe regular season in each ofthe last four
years.
"I would have been happy to win it in
regulation, but I was confident we would win it
if it went to penalty strokes," said an elated
head coach Jackie Keeley
It is the first time in five years that
Lafayette has not won the Patriot League
championship. The Leopards had advanced to
the championship game by defeating Bucknell,
1-0 in overtime on Saturday. The Leopards end
the season with arecord of 14-6-1.
Lehigh earned its berth by dropping third-
seeded Holy Cross, 2-Ion Saturday. Junior
Suzanne Montagnino and sophomore Cheryl
Dede scored the Engineer goals and Lehigh's
defense held Michelle Gagne, the league's
Offensive Player of the Year, to one goal in
order to advance to the title game.
Sunday's championship game was action-
packed from start to finish and the ending could
not have been scripted any better for the
underdog Engineers. The two teams played to a
scoreless tie through 70 minutes of regulation
and 30 minutes of sudden-death overtime before
deciding the outcome on five penalty strokes by each
team.
Lehigh sophomore Sharon Bucko took the first
stroke, barely missing left and Engineer senior goalie
Mary-Alice Zavocki then made a great stick save to her
right on the Leopards' Jenn Durkin. The Engineers'Liz
Brode, a senior co-captain, put Lehigh in front with a
shot to the lower right ofthe cage that got past Lafayette
keeper Danielle DeHoratius. The next two strokes,
taken by Lafayette's Jen Neison and Lehigh's Siobhan
McMahon, were wide left before the Leopards' Tbni
DiOttavio tied the count at 1-1 on a stroke to the lower
left ofthe cage that deflected off Zavocki's foot. Lehigh
co-captain Christie Berta took the fourth stroke and
missed wide left, but Zavocki kept things even by
stopping Zuka Baker's attempt. So it came down to the
last round and Lehigh sophomore Krista Wisniewski
came through with a clutch shot to the top right ofthe
Engineers rake in league honors
(Clockwise from top left) Head Coach Jackie Keeley was named Patriot League
Coach-of-the-Year, goalie Mary-Alice Zavocki earned defensive piayer-of-the-Year
and All-Patriot League honors, Nina Rems and Christie Berta each earned All-
Patriot League honors.
tently turned away the Leopards' attack,
including a five-minute stretch late in
the second half when the Engineers
were forced to play shorthanded after
Berta received a yellow-card.
"I thought the difference between this
game and the first game was the fact
that we had lost a starter (sophomore
Branch" Barth) on defense the night
before, which I think caused us to play
real tentatively," said Keeley, who was
named Patriot League Coach of the Year
during the awards presentation after the
contest.
"It (the coaching honor) is really a
surprise, but a very pleasant surprise
and I'm really happy to receive it," said
Keeley. "These kinds of awards are a
reflection of how well the team plays.
The players really earned it for me."
Also receiving honors after the game
were seniors Berta, Zavocki and Nina
Rems, who were all named to the 1994
All-Patriot League team. It is the
second time that Zavocki and Berta
have made the team. Zavocki, who was
named the league's 1994 Defensive
Player of the Year, was all-league in
1991 and Berta was a member of last
year's team.
The Engineers will lose several key
players from this year's team for next
year due to graduation, but have many
yomigplayersreturningwho contributed to this year's championship season.
But for the time being, the Engineers
can let their most recent accomplishment sink in. Lehigh is now the
reigning Patriot League Champion!
cage. Zavocki then followed with a great stick save to
her right side on a shot by Heather Bohannon to earn the
Engineers the title.
'We were picked last in the Patriot League this year
and we wound up winning the championship," said
Zavocki, who recorded 27 saves in the game and was
named the Most Valuable Player ofthe tournament. "I
guess that says somethingfor our coaching and our
dedication."
Keeley stated that she was confident in her team's
chances of beating the Leopards in the second meeting
between the schools this season. Lafayette won, 3-0,
during the regular season.
"To tell you the truth, I felt we could beat them if
we could make it through to the second time," said
Keeley "I actually got some sleep last night."
Lafayette outshot the Engineers 30-6 in the game,
but Zavocki and a swarming Lehigh defense consis-
More League Honors
The women's soccer team
had two Patriot League All-
League members itself in this
year of its first appearance in
the League's post-season
tournament
Senior Tara Cameron (top)
and junior Dia Johnson
earned league honors for the
Engineers, who fell toArmy
in the opening Patriot League
tournament game. For more
coverage on the game, please
seepage 11.