Field Hockey

Delaware Valley 4, FDU-Florham 1
LaRosa Notches Hat Trick On Senior Day

DOYLESTOWN (PA) - In the final home game of her collegiate career, senior Tiffany LaRosa scored three goals and moved into fifth place on the Delaware Valley College all-time scoring list as the Aggies stayed alive in the Freedom Conference playoff hunt with a 4-1 victory over visiting FDU-Florham.

The win lifted the Aggies to 9-7 overall and 3-3 in conference play with one game remaining. They moved into a tie for third place with Manhattanville College (2-2, 3 games left) and Wilkes University (2-2, 3 games left) and a half game over DeSales University (2-3, 2 games left). The top four teams in the Freedom advance to the playoffs.

LaRosa and fellow senior Marcy Nye were honored at the game and both had big performances. Nye, a back, made two key defensive saves in the first half when the game was scoreless.

And then there was LaRosa. She notched the first hat trick of her career and upped her career scoring totals to 22 goals and 14 assists for 58 points. The performance put her past 1996 grad Sylance Spence (55 points) for fifth place and just two points behind 1998 grad Leigh Poust (60 points) for the fourth spot on the Aggies all-time list.

Freshman Michelle Cernobyl gave Delaware Valley a 1-0 lead by scoring her team-best 12th goal of the season with 6:45 remaining in the first half. Two minutes later, LaRosa found the cage for the first time off a Shannon Shivak assist and the Aggies took a 2-0 advantage into the intermission, despite being outshot by a 20-9 margin.

It stayed that way until 9:50 was left on the clock when the Devils (3-11, 1-4) made it a one-goal game as Laura Elmo scored off a corner. However, LaRosa got free for a breakaway just 85 seconds later and she rocked a shot past FDU-Florham goalkeeper Kendra Hudson to regain the two-goal advantage.

Just 21 seconds later, LaRosa struck again as she blasted a shot from the top of the box for the hat trick and her 10th goal of the year.

The Devils held a 26-13 advantage in shots and a 22-10 advantage in corners for the game. Freshman Jen Gately was strong in net for the Aggies as she made 18 saves.