KEENE, N.H. – The Felician University women's bowling finished in third place in the 2017 East Coast Conference Championship tournament, hosted by Franklin Pierce University Friday through Sunday at Yankee Lanes. Felician ends up third in the event for the second consecutive season.
"This is quite different than last year, when there were only six teams in the tournament," said Felician head coach Andrew Toriello. "With nine teams this year, it felt like more of an accomplishment."
During Friday's competition, the nine teams were randomly paired into five sets of five-game Baker matches. Felician went 4-0 with a bye during those matches, but the record was not as important as the total pinfall. Based on pins, the teams were seeded for a double-elimination bracket. The Golden Falcons obtained the No. 4 seed after averaging 172.4 for the day.
All playoff matches were contested in a best-of-7 Baker format. Felician was defeated in its opening-round match by No. 5 seed Lincoln Memorial University, four games to two.
A second loss on Saturday would have eliminated the Golden Falcons from the tournament. Toriello sent the lineup of Kristin Natoli (Freehold, N.J./Howell); Michelle Gulino (Howell, N.J./Howell); Heather Androvich (Carteret, N.J./Carteret); Kristen Keller (Reading, Pa./Schuylkill Valley) and Nicole Aumack (Brick, N.J./Brick Township) to start against Daemen College, and Felician responded with a 4-0 victory.
The same line-up started against LIU post, and the Golden Falcons survived, 4-3, winning the decisive seventh game, 175-138. In order to advance to Sunday, Felician then had to get past No. 20-nationally-ranked Franklin Pierce University. The Golden Falcons eliminated their third opponent of the day by downing the Ravens in four games, starting a lineup of Natoli, Jessica Zalewski (Barnegat, N.J./Barnegat), Androvich, Keller and Aumack.
"Match 1 (on Saturday) was a heartbreaker," Toriello said. "I think we expected to win and thus took our opponent too lightly. But once we faced elimination, our women relaxed, had more fun, and had more confidence in themselves."
The Golden Falcons' season ended with a 4-0 setback to Lincoln Memorial in the losers' bracket final on Sunday morning.
Adelphi University, ranked 17th nationally, won its second consecutive conference title with a championship-round victory over Lincoln Memorial.
Felician concluded the third varsity intercollegiate season in program history with a won-lost record of 59-41, setting program records for wins and winning percentage.
