2012 CWPA Tournament: Princeton Vs. Maryland Battle For NCAA Berth

The championship game for the 2012 CWPA Eastern Championships is going to be No. 2 Princeton Tigers vs. No. 4 Maryland Terrapins which is scheduled to begin at 4:30 p.m. ET.

Maryland made it this far by getting revenge against Hartwick to win 7-4 in the quarterfinal round, but the semifinal match against top seeded Michigan Wolverines 9-8 to reach the finals. The game against Michigan was one of the best games of the tournament as was the 7-6 overtime win for Princeton.

Maryland rushed out to a 3-0 lead over Michigan in the first quarter and things looked easy for the Terps, but in the second quarter the Michigan offense came alive to score four goals and make it a 4-4 game at the half.

The second half was more of a defensive struggle and saw both teams have man-advantage opportunities. At the start of the second half Maryland scored within the first 31 seconds on a goal by Carly Hoshkom but the Wolverines answered at 6:23 with a blast by Meagan Cobb to once again tie the game at five goals.

The teams would once again score back-to-back goals, Maryland's goal was on a man-advantage play to pu them up 6-5, but Michigan's Kiki Golden scored on the next possession to once again tie the game.

The turning point of the game came when Maryland's Carly Hoshko scored with seven seconds left in the third quarter and then in the first 19 seconds of the fourth quarter when Nicole Tobin turned her defender to give Maryland a two-goal lead.

Michigan would then outscore Maryland 2-1 the rest of the fourth quarter including their fourth goal on a man-advantage play. The game came down to one last play as time expired, a penalty shot was awarded to Michigan on Maryland's Allison Campbell. With the game at 9-8 and overtime the likely scenario, Michigan gave the ball to Golden who on the day was 1-of-2 on penalty shots against Maryland's Shelby Reyes. Golden elected to go to the goalies right hand side, but Reyes knocked the ball down to secure the victory.

The No. 1 seed Wolverines tied the game three times and trailed by two scores on four occasions, but they never had a lead in the game. This win by Maryland is their first trip to the Eastern Championships and will ensure that they have their best finish ever in the tournament.

Box Score

Michigan Goals: Lauren Dudley (2); Meagan Cobb (2); Kiki Golden (2); Kelsey Nolan; Hathaway Moore

Maryland Goals: Nicole Tobin (3); Allison Campbell (3); Katie Ermakova; Danielle Robinson; Carly Hoshko

Saves: Michigan - Alex Adamson (7, 24 minutes), Morgan Turner (1, 8 minutes) ; Maryland - Shelby Reyes (9)

The other semifinal match was just as intriguing as Princeton defeated Brown 7-6 in overtime. Playing on the campus of Brown was a setback early on as Brown rallied around the home crowd and go out to a 5-2 halftime lead.

In the second half, Princeton brought out a different type of game and focused on their defense and drawing ejections. In the comeback attempt Princeton scored four of their five goals on man-advantage opportunites in the second half.

Their defense shutdown Brown in the third quarter as Princeton was able to tie the game at five. In the fourth quarter both teams clamped down their defensive efforts to score a goal apiece. Brown took the lead one last time as Emily McNamara scored the go-ahead goal with six minutes left.

The rest of the game was another defensive effort until Camille Hooks scored a buzzer-beater to send the game into overtime. The final goal came with eight seconds left when Hooks received the ball at the wing position, she set up for a shot and made a skip shot of the out stretched Evan Cranston.

Hooks scored again in the first overtime period at the 2:07 mark on a man-advantage play which proved to be the game winner.

Box Score

Brown Goals: Madison Pepper (2); Emily McNamara; Samantha Ryu; Brittany Westerman; Ashley Hatcher

Princeton Goals: Camille Hooks (3); Taylor Dunstan; Katie Rigler; Saranna Soroka

Saves: Brown - Evan Cranston (7) ; Princeton - Kristen Ward (6)