KUTZTOWN, Pa. - Sophomore Isabel Elenga recorded a career high 15 saves to keep the Lander Field Hockey team within striking distance of the third-ranked Kutztown Golden Bears but a buzzer beater goal right before the half and a man-up goal in the fourth proved the difference as Lander fell by a 2-1 scoreline on Friday at Andre Reed Stadium.
Lander dropped to 9-4 while Kutztown improved to 12-2.
The Bears came out firing in the first quarter as they outshot Lander 9-1 and put all nine shots on frame but Elenga was there to stop each one of them. The second quarter saw Lander start to grow more into the game but Kutztown still had the front foot offensively and finally broke through off a penalty corner right as the horn sounded for halftime.
The Bearcats got a good chance to equalize coming out of halftime as they got two shots off of successive penalty corners but the Kutztown keeper, Mia Kepler, kept the Blue and Gold off the scoreboard.
The fourth quarter saw Lander go down a player after a yellow card just over five minutes in and Kutztown struck quickly to double their lead.
The Bearcats continued to be resilient down the stretch as they would get a series of penalty corners which saw Aniek Vreeken slot home a goal. That goal marked the Bearcats as only the fourth team to score against the Golden Bears this season. However, Vreeken's goal was just as the horn sounded and the Bearcats ran out of time to complete the comeback.
The Lander Field Hockey team continues their Pennsylvania road trip as they travel to eighth-ranked Millersville on Sunday for a noon start time.
