GARDEN CITY, New York - With the odds stacked against the American International College field hockey team, a determined group of 10 student-athletes defied expectations, forcing overtime in a game they played the entirety of regulation shorthanded before falling 1-0 in overtime at Adelphi University in Northeast-10 Conference action on Tuesday, October 15.

AIC's record now stands at 6-6, with a 4-4 NE10 mark.

Understandably, the ball spent a significant portion of the contest in the AIC defensive end, and the Yellow Jackets did what they had to do to resist a relentless Adelphi attack. The Panthers pounded six shots toward the target thanks in part to four penalty corners in the first quarter alone, but Frederique den Hartog kicked out four of the five on net, with Morgan Martellio stuffing a chance from the left post for a defensive save.

The field continued to tilt toward den Hartog's cage in the second, but the rookie keeper stopped a pair of bids. AIC even managed to generate an offensive corner of its own, although Mia Wood's shot was sent wide.

In the third, the Panthers pressed and put eight shots on the cage, their highest single-frame total for the match. None went in as den Hartog got to four, and Martellio pulled four more off the line, including three in one incredible sequence. Justine Lalli also pulled a chance off the line in the late stages of the frame.

By the time the fourth started, it was clear AIC's defense was winning the battle. The Panthers still controlled the field, but only put three chances at the net, all that den Hartog turned back. Adelphi came close on one corner, putting the ball in the net, but the shot was ruled to have come from outside the circle and deemed no goal. Ultimately, the horn sounded on a tremendous 60 minutes of effort with the score still 0-0.

Unfortunately for the Yellow Jackets, it was not meant to be; the Panthers were awarded a penalty stroke at 5:59 of the extra session and scored, as Ali Nagy tallied the game's lone strike. 

Martellio's five defensive saves set the AIC single-game record and tied the NE10 and NCAA Division II single-game record set by Ashley Webb of Saint Michael's College against Saint Anselm College on October 4, 2006. She has now compiled nine defensive saves this season, just two off of the AIC record set in 2009 by Katrina Heterbring '11 and tied in both 2017 and 2018 by Chelsea Davis '19. Heterbring also previously held the mark for most in a single game in team history, having made three against the University of Massachusetts-Lowell on September 12, 2009.

AIC continues NE10 play with another NE10 battle at Mercy University on Saturday, October 19.