Cal Wins America East Tournament

LOWELL, Mass. –The California field hockey team made its final America East contest a memorable one, scoring two late goals – including the game winner by Holly Pears in overtime – to rally past UAlbany 3-2 and clinch the 2023 America East Tournament title.
 
After going nearly two and a half quarters without a shot and trailing 2-1 late in the fourth period, Bente Baekers breathed new life into the No. 4-seeded Golden Bears’ offense by smashing her 17th goal of the season to knot the score with a little more than five minutes remaining in regulation. Tina Jolly then notched her eighth and final save of the game with 15 seconds left to force overtime.
 
It was Pears, a freshman, who scored the program’s biggest goal in recent memory five minutes into overtime. Taking a pass from Sydney Decher at the top of the circle and blasting a backhanded shot past No. 2-seeded UAlbany’s keeper Lara Behn (10-3) for the golden goal.
 
The win marked Cal’s first America East Tournament title and sealed its first NCAA Tournament berth since 2006.
 
“The second half was how I expected the whole game to be,” Donna Fong Director of Field Hockey Shellie Onstead said. “UAlbany is a talented team and I thought we matched up well, player-to-player, with them. It was a back-and-forth game with a lot of good hockey. Our core defense was unbelievable; Manny (Martinez) has been in charge of that and he’s been doing a lot of work and it paid off. They’ve really gotten a lot better over the course of the year.”
 
Cal…