WILKES-BARRE (Pa.) – Five minutes into overtime, with the game knotted at 3-3, Ashley Birmingham forced a turnover, cleared, and sent a long pass ahead to Maiya Wendel who found herself all alone on a breakaway. The senior dribbled into the circle before she let blasting a hard shot passed the aggressive on-coming keeper and into the back of the cage to lift the Delaware Valley University field hockey team to a thrilling 4-3 Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) Freedom triumph at King's College on Friday night.

The Aggies (2-12, 1-3 MAC Freedom) surrendered an early fourth quarter goal to the Monarchs (3-8, 0-4) and trailed by one, 3-2, with five minutes left in regulation. They earned a corner with 4:14 on the clock and senior Gillian Nardelli played the ball in. The play called for a give-and-go between Nardelli and Birmingham at the top of the circle, and the Aggies executed perfectly. Nardelli received the pass at the side of the cage and one-timed the shot up and over the goalie, and into the far corner to tie the game and set up the overtime dramatics.

DelVal did not lead in the game until the final buzzer. King's scored first, 12 minutes into the contest, and maintained the 1-0 lead into the second quarter. 8:21 into the second, senior Lili Dougherty collected a loose ball just outside the circle and slid a pass over to Nardelli who let a quick shot go from long distance that made its way through a maze of players and into the cage for her first of the night and a 1-1 game.

However, just 30 seconds later, the Monarchs got the goal back when Danielle Runo got to a loose ball in the box and banged it home to put the home team back on top, 2-1. It remained a one-goal game at halftime.

Nine minutes into the second half, Wendel moved the ball into King's territory and sent a cross into the circle where Sydney Keagle gathered, spun around the keeper, and lifted a reverse shot into an empty cage to even the score again, 2-2, and lead to the late game heroics.

Nardelli finished with two goals and an assist for a five-point night and Wendel scored once and assisted another for three points. Birmingham and Keagle rounded out the scoring for DelVal and Dougherty picked up her first career assist.