SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The Converse University Field Hockey team won their first ever South Atlantic Conference Carolinas Tournament championship with a 1-0 win over Limestone on Sunday afternoon at a sold out Fulp Field.
 
For Converse (12-6) it was a season of firsts from start to finish. The Valkyries posted their most wins ever in a season and defeated an opponent three times in one season. Converse also won their first Regular Season Championship, won the conference Offensive Player of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, Freshman of the Year and Coach of the Year Awards. Won their first tournament game on Friday afternoon and capped the weekend off with their first Tournament Championship. Home Field advantage helped the Valkyries throughout this season as they finished a perfect 9-0 at home this season.
 
The home field advantage came into play on Sunday afternoon as the Purple and Gold supporters packed out the Fulp Field Hill to cheer on the Valkyries. The fans were loud from start to finish as the players fed off the crowd's raucous energy.
 
In the opening moments of the first quarter the Valkyries needed the crowd's help as Limestone (9-8) had a pair of penalty corner opportunities in the first two minutes of the contest. Graduate student goal keeper Ciriaca Petitto made the first big play of the afternoon with a save against Kelly Diplock. The Valkyries offense countered and in the sixth minute Freshman of the Year Lotte Kanters took the first shot of the game for the Valkyries. A few moments later and Mira Polzer attempted the Valkyries second shot of the afternoon. The game went into the second quarter scoreless after the first 15 minutes of action.
 
In the second quarter the Valkyries offense went into attack mode and held the ball on the Limestone side of the field for the majority of the quarter. The Valkyries outshot the Saints 4-0 in the second quarter and they attempted a trio of corners in the period. For every big shot the Valkyries made the Saints appeared to counter with a big save of their own to keep the match scoreless heading into the halftime break.
 
Following the halftime break the Valkyries seemed to be more energized and more determine to score than in the first to quarters. Converse outshot Limestone 6-0 in the third period but once again the Saints made save after save to keep it a scoreless affair heading into the fourth quarter of action.
 
In the first 10-minutes of the fourth quarter the Valkyries attempted a pair of corners and a pair of shots against Limestone. Following a pair of saves, the Saints went on a rare counter attack and put pressure on the Valkyries back line. Limestone was awarded a pair of penalty corners but senior leaders Petitto and Bo Linders made sure the Saints didn't score as they made a pair of diving saves.
 
After a back-and-forth battle between the two teams the Valkyries got the ball back with less than a minute to play. Chelseas Cangro picked up a green card for the Saints after she committed a hard foul against the Valkyries. Converse was able to work the ball down the field and was awarded a penalty corner with less than 20-seconds to go in the game. Bella Pistilli passed the ball in and Mira Polzer found Luisa Fasold for the game-winning goal.
 
Polzer led the team with five total shots, four shots on goal and one assist in the match. Fasold and Kanters each took a trio of shots to finish second on the team. Petitto made a pair of saves to preserve the shutout, while her counterpart Tereza Koprivova made 12-saves in a losing effort. Linders, Pettito, Polzer and Fasold were all selected to the All-Tournament team. Fasold took home tournament MVP honors after scoring a pair of goals in the tournament, including the championship winner on Sunday afternoon.
 
Next Up:
The Valkyries will wait to see if they are selected to the NCAA Tournament tomorrow afternoon.

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