BOX SCORE

Scranton, Pa. (Oct. 21, 2006) – Senior forwards Becky Macchione (Richland, PA/Conrad Weiser) and Megan Novogratz (Allentown, PA/Central Catholic) added a goal each as Alvernia College finished off the final 14:10 of a halted game at Marywood Saturday afternoon and left with a 5-1 win in Pennsylvania Athletic Conference field hockey action.

            The first 56 minutes were played back on September 28th with Alvernia taking a 3-1 lead before the game was halted due to lightning.  Marywood opened the scoring with a goal in the 21st minute before Macchione countered with back-to-back goals to put Alvernia up 2-1.  Novogratz added a goal 1:40 before the lightning and the Crusaders (16-2, 10-1 PAC) went home with a 3-1 lead and 14:10 remaining on the clock.

            The remainder of the game was originally scheduled for 11:00 Saturday morning before Alvernia’s afternoon trip to DeSales, but when Marywood’s field was flooded with rain earlier in the week the game was moved back to a 5:00 p.m. start at Lake Lehman High School.  Marywood also  moved its Saturday afternoon contest with Gwynedd-Mercy over to Lake Lehman and defeated the Griffins 3-0 before taking the field with the Crusaders.

            Alvernia needed overtime to defeat DeSales in the early afternoon with Macchione driving home the game-winner just over two minutes into the extra frame.  Soon after the restart at Lake Lehman it was Novogratz slamming home her 16th goal of the season to give Alvernia a 4-1 lead.  Macchione capped the scoring in the final minute of play with what amounted to her third goal of the game giving her a hat trick in successive weeks.  Macchione tallied three goals against Arcadia in a 6-0 win on Oct. 11.

            Alvernia sophomore Audrey Hoffman (Mertztown, PA/Brandywine Heights) totaled five saves in the game to pick up her 11th win of the season.  Alvernia finished with a 26-6 advantage in shots and 10-4 edge in penalty corners.

            Alvernia improved to 37-4 all-time in games which Macchione and Novogratz both score at least one goal.  After starting the season with no multi-goal games through the first 15 games, Novogratz, the second leading career goal scorer behind Macchione, has now posted two goals in each of the last three games.

            Alvernia will travel to Moravian College Monday for a rescheduled game with the Greyhounds and play a final non-conference tune up at Juniata on Thursday.  PAC Championship pairings will be available by Thursday with the tournament set to begin on Saturday.

Alvernia 5, Marywood 1