Dan Sherman
Asst. SID
Juniata College
814-641-3513
shermad@juniata.edu
Bridgewater, Va., After suffering unfortunate back-to-back overtime loses to Messiah and York, the Juniata Eagles got back on the right track by recording a road victory in a Battle of the Birds with a 2-1 win over Bridgewater Wednesday night. The Bridgewater Eagles fell to 2-4 on the season.
Allison Groft (Hanover Pa. / South West) shot from the left side of the net and missed just wide right, but teammate Katie Alexander (Mifflinburg, Pa. / Mifflinburg) redirected the ball into cage before going out of bounds to end the scoring draught and give Juniata the lead in the final minutes of the first half. The Eagles added an insurance goal early in the second half when Sarah Bilheimer (Bethlehem, Pa. / Freedom) pushed to the left side of the net and scored. Groft, the team leader in assists would add another on the play.
Bridgewater made it interesting scoring a goal with eight minutes left in the match and nearly adding another before the end of regulation. The team called a timeout with one second left on the clock and the ensuing play resulted in a corner for Bridgewater. However, the Eagles were unable to capitalize on the final play of the game and Juniata came away with the win in a nail-biter finish.
Juniata moves to 3-2 on the season and will return home to take on the Aggies of Delaware Valley Saturday afternoon. The contest will be held in Knox Stadium with a 2 p.m. game time.