After the cancellation of its game against Moravian on Wednesday, the Elizabethtown College women’s field hockey team traveled to Huntingdon, Pa. to bring home a 1-0 win against the Juniata College Eagles. Senior Taylor Alwine made the one and only goal of the game.
This win for the team puts the Blue Jays even with the Eagles in the Landmark Conference standings. The Blue Jays’ record in the Landmark Conference is now 3-1 and 8-5 overall. Before the game against the Eagles, the Blue Jays entered the competition with wins from the last three games played. On top of these wins, the Blue Jays were victorious in eight of their last 10 games.
The team knew the challenge ahead of them going into Saturday’s game. “We aren’t going into any game with the idea that it’s going to be an easy win,” junior Alyssa Aichele said. “There is no one team in the conference that outshines another so every game is going to be a battle until the last minute of the game.”
The Blue Jays started with offensive pressure in the first half with four shots in the opening 10 minutes. A Blue Jay penalty corner provided the opportunity for one of the first four shots. Senior Emily Mason took the corner at 9:35 in the first half. Mason found Alwine who fired a shot on goal that found the back of the cage to give the Blue Jays an early lead.
The Eagles pushed back within the next three minutes, putting senior goalkeeper Selene Jones to work. One minute after Alwine’s goal, Juniata’s Kortney Showers took a shot on the Etown cage, but Jones was able to stop her from tying up the score. Two minutes after this attempt, Juniata’s Sarah Bilheimer took another shot on goal that was blocked by Jones, to keep the score 1-0.
Both teams were able to combat the offensive pressure from the other, as neither team made a single shot for the rest of the half. Jones managed to save a shot by Bilheimer late in the first half to maintain the lead for the Blue Jays.
Etown kept the lead throughout the second half until the end of the game, making it the third shutout for Jones this season.
Perhaps one of the biggest strengths of the team is that each player is confident in every teammate’s capability to perform at a high level. “We are all very confident in each other,” Aichele said. “Whether [they] have started for three years or are the seventh person off the bench, we know that each player is going to give it her all when on the field playing.”
The Eagles and Blue Jays are tied for second in the Landmark Conference behind Catholic (5-0), which holds the number one slot.
The Blue Jays defeated Ferrum College on Tuesday, 12-0. Junior Jacki Hikes, junior Lisa Foose, senior Kaylee Werner, senior Lindsey Nester, Mason and Alwine each contributed a goal in the victory. Senior Andrea Keady, first year Emma Christman and sophomore Nicole Leaf each recorded two goals for the Blue Jays.
The Blue Jays are hopeful that they will appear in the Landmark Conference Championship game and make it into NCAA tournament competitions. “We plan on winning the rest of our conference games this season with the hopes to have another shot at getting that Conference Championship win,” Aichele said. “We have made it to the championship game the past two years, so you know what they say, third time’s the charm.”
The Blue Jays will travel to Madison, N.J. on Saturday, Oct. 25 for their Landmark Conference face-off against Drew University at 1 p.m.
