On Saturday, Oct. 30, the Elizabethtown College women’s soccer team faced off against Scranton University at Ira R. Herr Field in Elizabethtown, Pa.
Etown was the first opponent to score twice on 17th-ranked Scranton this season in the final game of the regular season. First year Marissa Vandernick and sophomore Sydney Reich scored goals for the Blue Jays as they tied the Royals 2-2 in two overtimes.
While Scranton led the way in shot count, it was the Blue Jays that struck first in the game. Though it was the only shot of the half, Vandernick made it count.
Sophomore Bailey Groff sent a ball that was headed toward the left post. Goalie Amanda Steinberg of the Scranton University Royals was trying to get to the ball and made her way down as if to make a save. However, Vandernick was able to cut in front of the keeper and ball and deflect it into the open net for her first career goal. That gave Etown a 1-0 lead in the 10th minute.
The Royals applied pressure on the Blue Jays for much of the half and finished with a 10-1 advantage in shots. The Royals did get the equalizer in the 23rd minute, thanks to sophomore Mary Haggerty.
While junior goalkeeper Trinity Soto continued to come up big, making six saves in each half, the Blue Jays were able to grab the lead back in the 79th minute.
Groff was a part of another goal as her ball unleashed Reich up the right side. The sophomore, very similar to her goal in overtime at Drew, sent another looping shot from outside, this time over the keeper’s head and into the goal to put Etown in front 2-1.
That lead, however, lasted for only 11 seconds as the Royals went right down the field and a fortunate bounce of the ball came to Niamh Healy in the box. She turned and fired a left-footed blast that hit the back netting to tie the score at 2-2.
Soto made her sixth save of the second half, and 12th of the game, with one minute and 10 seconds remaining to keep it tied and force overtime. Soto added one save in the first overtime and four more in the second to finish with 17 for the game, a new career-high.
Elizabethtown became the first team all season to score two goals against Scranton and the first team in over a month to score at all on the Royals, who have only given up four goals in 15 games.
The Blue Jays will finish as the No. 3 seed in the Landmark Conference and will face the second seed, Susquehanna, in Selinsgrove, Pa. on Wednesday, Nov. 3, at 7 p.m.
