By: Jennifer Jones
Director of Sports Information
jonesj@juniata.edu • juniatasports.net
Photo: Jennifer Jones
SCRANTON, Pa. – The Juniata College field hockey team rebounded from a tough mid-week loss by opening its Landmark Conference schedule with a 2-1 upset of the University of Scranton Saturday in its second consecutive double-overtime thriller. Senior Liz Slimak (Elizabethtown, Pa./Lower Dauphin) scored the game winner on a penalty stroke in the 95th minute of competition, the first game winner of her career. Juniata moves to 5-5 overall on the year, 1-0 in the Landmark with the win. The loss snapped an eight-game win streak for the Royals, who dropped to 8-1, 0-1 Landmark.
"Definitely lots of hockey under our belts this week," said Eagle head coach Caroline Gillich. "Definitely any conference win on the road, any win against a team a top team is a big win. There's home field advantage in field hockey which we could see being the lone win on the road today in conference hockey."
The game remained scoreless until 2:38 left in regulation, when Kathleen Keene put in her third goal of the season to give Scranton the lead. A quick reaction by Juniata would set up a scoring opportunity.
"They had a great response Scranton's goal," said Gillich. "They realized we need to get this now and marched down the field and got a corner. Took a timeout so the clock wouldn't burn down and we were able to get back out."
Junior Tori Buser (Allentown, Pa./Parkland) took the shot with 1:45 left in the game and it was just wide of the cage. But sophomore Allison Groft (Hanover, Pa./Southern Western) was there to collect the rebound and punch in the game-tying goal, her second of the year.
Junior Shelby Miller (Pottstown, Pa./Owen J. Roberts) kept the Royals out of the cage for over 80 minutes to earn her third win of 2013.
"Shelby definitely did a great job holding down the fort against a Scranton attack that tends to be really fast and really scrappy," added Gillich. "The big thing is to keep them from getting rebounds which is their big thing. The defense around her as well did terrific. Their body position was great. Kelsey [Leibelsperger] and Tori in the backfield really set things up. Shelby said she is so comfortable back there because she is so confident in the defense in front of her."
The Eagles outshot Scranton 12-10, 9-5 on goal and earned more penalty corners. They laid the pressure on in the second overtime, firing off their second shot just over nine minutes in. An error by the Royal defense on the strike forced a penalty stroke and Slimak hit it home. She is now 1-0 in penalty strokes for her career.
"We definitely did a better job of getting shot opportunities off corners," said Gillich. "A much better day of us executing and getting shots off and creating chaos in there. But we'd certainly like to score one out of every three or every four corners. That would be a goal."
Juniata returns home on Wednesday, Oct. 2 to face Elizabethtown College in a 4 p.m. showdown. The Eagles are 8-11 all-time against Elizabethtown and have won two of their last three meetings. Each of the last four meetings have been decided by one goal.
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