The Elizabethtown College field hockey team continued their, until recently, undefeated season in Commonwealth conference play with a 3-1 victory over the nationally-ranked Messiah Falcons this past weekend.
This was the Blue Jay’s fourth straight win and the seventh straight in conference play. With the victory, Etown was then 7-0 in the Commonwealth Conference, solidifying their spot at the top of the conference standings.
The Blue Jays were able to pull away from the Falcons with an offensive flurry in the second half, scoring twice in the period. Not only did this victory help the Blue Jays take sole possession of the conference, it was also their second victory over a top 25 team this season.
Junior Taylor Alwine got the Blue Jays on the board first, scoring her fifth goal of the season to give Etown the early lead eight minutes into the contest. It did not take long for the Falcons to match Etown’s goal, as Messiah’s Moriah Pfautz notched her 13th goal of the season in the 13-minute mark. Junior goalie Marlena Johnson stopped Pfautz’s initial two shots before finding the back of the net. The two Commonwealth Conference leaders went in at halftime with the game tied up at one each.
The Blue Jay defense came out in the second half prepared to play. While the Falcons came out firing, Etown was prepared to handle each of Messiah’s six second-half shots. The Blue Jays retook the lead in the 62nd minute of play off a penalty stroke from sophomore Andrea Keady, scoring her 12th goal of the season. The goal made Keady five for six on penalty strokes this year.
Junior Kaylee Werner tallied the Blue Jays third and final goal in the 68th minute to solidify an Etown victory. Werner took a pass from junior Emily Mason to beat Messiah goalie Molly Gebrosky for a 3-1 lead. For both her offensive and defensive play, Werner was named the Commonwealth Conference Player of the Week alongside teammate Johnson. When the final whistle blew, the Etown netminder ended with 11 saves on the day.
The Blue Jays then traveled to Lebanon Valley College in an attempt to complete their perfect in-conference record. This hope was dashed with a 1-0 loss to the Flying Dutchmen.
LVC’s Megan Harris was able to sneak the first shot of the game past a diving Johnson to get the Dutchmen on the board. This would turn out to be the decisive and only goal of the game, putting a blemish on Etown’s once perfect conference record. Despite the goal, Johnson played commendably in net for the Blue Jays stopping the next three shots she faced.
Etown outshot their opponents in both halves of the competition and doubled their opposition for the game. The Blue Jays attempted 10 corners in the game, opposed to LVC’s two, but were unable to get one past the Dutchmen goalkeeper Chloe Baro.
Even with the loss to LVC, the Blue Jays still wrapped up the No. 1 seed in next week’s Commonwealth Conference playoffs.
The Blue Jays will finish out the regular season when they travel to Susquehanna University on Nov. 2 at 1p.m before they begin their playoff run. Their current conference record is 7-1 and 12-5 overall.