MADISON, N.J. – The Stevens Institute of Technology Ducks found the back of the cage in the waning minutes to hand the FDU-Florham field hockey team a 2-1 loss on Thursday night at Robert T. Shields Field.
The Devils (3-3, 0-0 MAC Freedom) dropped their third straight contest, while the Ducks (3-2, 0-1 Empire8) have now won two in a row and moved over the .500 mark.
An evenly played matched saw both teams earn equal scoring chances with the Devils narrowly edging the Ducks 13-12 in shots, however, the Ducks put one more shot on cage (10-9).
Six minutes into action, off of a penalty corner, the Devils had their best scoring chance of the first stanza.
Erin O'Connell fired a rocket that was destined for the back of the cage but Ducks back
Briana DeGraaf, who was positioned on the goal line, stepped in front and prevented the game's first goal.
FDU-Florham attempted nine shots over the first 35 minutes of play but were unable to score and the game went to intermission deadlocked at 0-0.
Just under two minutes into the second half, O'Connell avenged her near goal by making a defensive save of her own, robbing Stevens'
Victoria Alvarez of a goal and keeping the contest tied. But Alvarez would continue to battle and played a major role over the final 33 minutes of action.
At the 49:25 mark, Alvarez drove into the Devils' zone and slid a pass across cage to teammate
Taylor Welch who lofted a high shot past
Amy Defnet and gave the Ducks a 1-0 lead.
The Devils would respond in the 58
th minute when
Kim Davis received a feed from
Stephanie Geskes and craftily eluded the Ducks' goalkeeper for the equalizer. However, with 2:11 to play in regulation, Alvarez followed up a rebound from a teammate and knocked it past Defnet for what proved to be the game-winning strike.
With the clock showing 0:00, the Devils earned three penalty corners and appeared to net the tying goal but it was waived off due to a violation and the Ducks held on for the win.
Davis' goal was her fifth of the season, while Defnet made seven saves for FDU-Florham in the loss.
The Devils will look to get back on track when they host Moravian College this Saturday, September 19 at 1 p.m.
