Hawks Drop Home Heart-Breaker To Hanover

MONTGOMERY, Ala.- Huntingdon dropped a tightly contested 5-4 decision to Hanover College at home despite outshooting the Panthers and controlling several key statistical categories.

Hanover opened the scoring midway through the first quarter and added a free-position goal late in the period to take a 2-0 lead into the second.

The Hawks answered in the second quarter. Amara Veng put Huntingdon on the board at the 11:13 mark off an assist from Kate Hudson, and Reagan Barrett followed with the equalizer at 7:35 on a feed from Veng to tie the game at 2-2. The Panthers regained the lead just 33 seconds later on a free-position opportunity to carry a 3-2 advantage into halftime.

After a defensive third quarter that featured multiple cards on both sides, Hanover extended its lead to 4-2 on a down-player goal with just over three minutes remaining in the frame. Hudson responded with a free-position strike at the 2:22 mark to cut the deficit to 4-3 heading into the fourth.

An extra-player goal early in the final quarter pushed the Panthers' lead to 5-3. Barrett netted her second goal of the afternoon unassisted with 6:14 to play to bring the Hawks within one, but Huntingdon was unable to find the equalizer in the closing minutes.

Huntingdon finished with a 22-14 edge in shots and an 11-8 advantage in shots on goal. The Hawks also controlled ground balls 31-22 and held a slight 6-5 edge in draw controls. Barrett led the offense with two goals and nine shots, while Hudson added a goal and an assist. Veng chipped in a goal and an assist as well.

Kendall Hallas made three saves in goal for the Hawks, while Hanover's goalkeeper recorded seven stops to preserve the one-goal win.