KUTZTOWN, PA – A season full of peaks and valleys for the Pace field hockey team came to a tough ending in the NCAA Division II Field Hockey Championships quarterfinals on Saturday, with Kutztown University topping Pace, 2-1, at Andre Reed Stadium on the campus of Kutztown.
The Setters conclude the season with a 13-8 record.
The home team got on the board first. In the second quarter, Sarah Gatehouse sent a penalty corner out and Breann Craley took a shot from the center and got the ball past
Celeste Pagliaroli to take a 1-0 lead.
Pace did respond with a goal of their own in the third quarter.
Anne Kopec found
Noëlle Meij who ripped a shot past the seemingly unbeatable keeper of Kutztown, with Meij's goal only being the ninth allowed by her all season, to tie the game up a 1-1.
The difference maker would come in in the final quarter, Jillian Buchman took a backhanded shot from the right of the box and it found the opposite post through traffic, which would prove to be enough offense for Kutztown to advance.
Pagliaroli was busy this evening, facing 25 shots and stopping an impressive 18, a new career-high for the blossoming freshman goalie for the Setters.
