Lakewood, N.J.- In an epic conclusion to the 2015 campaign, #2 Georgian Court University dropped an 8-6 decision to #1 Holy Family University in the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference title game Sunday afternoon.
The Tigers (14-3) finish the year with a perfect 10-0 record vs. CACC foes while the Lions (11-5) had their season-long, 10-game winning streak snapped with the setback.
It looked as if it would be a long afternoon for GCU at the start as the Tigers pounced for a speedy 4-0 advantage by the 17:39 mark of the first half. The two squads traded the next two tallies to make it 5-1 HFU with 12:31 left until intermission.
Silvetta Agosto (5:20) and
Stephanie Gallo (3:07) found the back of the net for the Lions to cut the deficit to 5-3 going into the half.
Like the first period, Holy Family started quickly by netting the first two scores in the second stanza to increase its lead to 7-3, courtesy of free-position goals from
Brianna Lancetta (25:17) and
Paige Settar (19:34). GCU quickly responded and cut the lead to 7-5 with Gallo's second of the afternoon at 17:00 and one by
Callie Brown just 43 seconds later at 16:17.
Christina Bonomo put the Tigers up 8-5 with her second score with 9:52 left. GCU's Gallo completed the hat trick in what is her final collegiate game with 8:05 remaining, but that would be as close as the Lions would get.
Tournament Most Valuable Player,
Grace Deckert, collected seven saves in the HFU net to earn the championship win.
Stephanie Lehner gathered nine saves in the gallant goalkeeping effort for the Lions.
Agosto, Brown, and Gallo each earned All-Tournament accolades for Georgian Court.
