STATE COLLEGE — After the State College field hockey team lost a storm-shortened game to Susquenita at home on Thursday, the Little Lions began Mid-Penn Conference play with two losses to top league contenders.
Against Susquenita, SC fell behind 1-0 at halftime, but storms then covered the area and the game was called. Susquenita left State College with the one-goal win.
On Tuesday, the team played its first Mid-Penn game in Harrisburg against Central Dauphin and suffered a heartbreaking 3-2 overtime loss to the Lady Rams.
State College had taken a 2-0 halftime lead on two first-period goals by Brynn Pezalski. The first came at the 11:55 mark on assists by Emme Antunez and Harper Dare, and then unassisted at the 2:17 mark.
CD came back in the second half with third period goals by Alessi Salvaggio and Sophie Goodsell that tied the game going into the last quarter.
And after neither team was able to score in the quarter, the game went into overtime.
In overtime, both teams had chances, but the Rams finally ended the game when Sarah Harris scored with just 38 seconds left in the OT.
CD led the game with 20 shots, but Lion goalie Cora Bierly made 14 saves and kept her team in the game.
The loss dropped the team’s record to 2-2 for the season and 0-1 in the Mid-Penn.
Two days later at Memorial Field, State College took on Cumberland Valley in the team’s first home conference game.
The CV defense controlled the Lions and limited them to just eight shots while Cumberland Valley scored goals in every quarter.
The final was 4-0, and the loss dropped the State College record to 2-3 overall and 0-2 in the Mid-Penn.
Next up for State College will be Mid-Penn away games at Carlisle and Lower Dauphin.
