SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The Converse University field hockey team secured the South Atlantic Conference/Conference Carolina Regular Season Championship and No. 1 overall seed in the conference tournament with 3-1 win over Belmont Abbey on Tuesday night at Fulp Field.
 
Converse (10-5, 8-3 CC) has now won seven consecutive matches dating back to the first weekend in October. The win on Tuesday night also gave the Valkyries a perfect record at home this season and secured their first ever 10-win season in program history.
 
It did not take long for the Valkyries to strike in the opening period of play as Bo Linders found Lotte Kanters for the first goal of the game. With the goal Kanters now has a team high eight goals on the season. Converse continued to pressure the Crusaders in the opening period of action and in the 12^th minute of the game Mira Polzer connected Luisa Fasold the second goal of the game for the Valkyries.
 
In the second quarter the Valkyries continued to control the match until late in the period. In the waning moments of the first half the Valkyries defense stood strong and survived a barrage of shots from Belmont Abbey. Converse went into the halftime break ahead 2-0 and they outshot the Crusaders 14-2 in the first half.
 
Once the third quarter began the two teams battled for possession and countered one another numerous times in the period. The Valkyries defense stood strong as they played man down for most of the quarter and held off a trio of penalty corners. After the Valkyries were assessed a 10-minute yellow card the Converse defense understood that they would be playing man down for a majority of the fourth quarter.
 
In the 46^th minute of the game Casey Etter scored on a penalty stroke to bring the Crusaders within a goal of the Valkyries. The Valkyries offense began to pressure the Crusaders backline once again and Polzer was awarded a penalty stroke in the 57^th minute. Polzer converted on the penalty stroke and gave the Valkyries a two goal lead once again. In the final moments of the contest the Valkyries were able to dribble out the clock as crowd counted down the final few seconds of the match.
 
Polzer led the team offensively with four total shots, three shots on goal, an assist and a goal in the contest. Fasold contributed four total shots and a goal in the contest to finish second on the team. Defensively, Kathryn Daniels made three saves on the night to help preserve the win for the Valkyries on Tuesday night.
 
Next Up:
The Valkyries will play their final regular season match on Saturday afternoon at Mount Olive. The game is scheduled to start at 1:00 p.m.

Follow Converse
https://www.facebook.com/ConverseValkyries
Twitter: @Valkyries_FH
Instagram: @ValkyriesFieldHockey
Youtube.com/Converse Athletics