Nov. 12, 2002

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Berkeley, Calif. (www.lafayette.edu) - The Lafayette field hockey team suffered a heart-breaking 1-0 overtime defeat at the hands of the host University of California Golden Bears in Wednesday's CCA Play-In game.

With their win, the Bears (17-6) assured themselves a spot in the NCAA's 16-team tournament field that begins this weekend, while Lafayette (19-3) has to wait for the NCAA to announce its at-large selections tonight at 8 p.m. EDT on its web site.

Lafayette, riding a 19-game win streak to Berkeley, got out shot 9-4 by California, and dodged 11 Golden Bear penalty corners in regulation.

Despite losing the statistics battle, the Leopards had their chances to find the back of the cage in regulation. Lafayette started strong, but could not take advantage of two first-half penalty corners, and senior Megan Monahan fired the team's cleanest shot of the game late in the second half that was kicked aside by California goaltender Kelly Knapp.

Using its team speed, Lafayette controlled the tempo and time of possession in overtime. Jennifer Stone, who was active in the midfield all game, created several opportunities for herself and the Leopards, but Knapp answered.

The Golden Bears countered and gained a penalty corner six minutes into the extra session. Cal's Nora Feddersen, who tallied a game-high six shots, kept the ball on her stick long enough to move past Lafayette net minder Casey Devlin's stick-side and tally the game winner at 6:22 into the overtime.

The Patriot League Champion Leopards will wait to see if their school and conference-record 19 wins will be enough to gain an at-large selection into the NCAA Tournament.