The Griffins scored first, taking a 1-0 lead off of a corner in the 13^th minute. Brittany Wilson assisted Megan Senkeleski, who sent the ball past keeper Julianne Jones (Middleburg, PA / Midd-West) during a scrum in front of the cage. That would be all that Jones and the Juniata defense would yield. The defense kept the team in the game and came up huge for the Eagles tonight. Tori Buser (Allentown, PA / Parkland) and Kelsey Leibelsperger (Fleetwood, PA / Fleetwood) each had defenses saves. Coach Caroline Gillich spoke highly of her two defenders after the contest, "Huge, huge defensive effort. You don't always see that things that Tori does, but there is so much that that kid does that is not seen, she is just a huge factor for us on defense. Kelsey L has an amazing ability to end runs time and time again with her fabulous timing and block tackles. Its no question an attacker hits a wall when they hit Kelsey."

 

Juniata had opportunities to tie the game before the half. Sarah Bilheimer (Bethlehem, PA / Freedom) had a one-on-one opportunity in front of the net but the keeper came out, blocking the shot, and knocking the forward to the ground. Later, with three minutes left in the half, the junior pulled up in front of the net and fired a shot at the open left side of the cage, but missed wide.

 

At the break Gillich told her team that they needed to come out stronger in the second half, "My message to the team at the half was we need to pick it up. We were not playing at a level that was going to win this game. It was not that we can't, it was that we're not right now, so we need to change that. We needed to start sprinting and supporting the ball better defensively and offensively. We were hesitating in the first half and it was hurting us. They really needed to go all out in this last 35 minutes."

Juniata spent much of the start of the second half in the Griffin zone, with many chances to score early, but were not able to tie the game at that point. Katie Alexander (Mifflinburg, PA / Mifflinburg) dribbled the ball through the defense passing to Bilheimer in front of the cage. The keeper came out to meet the two and fell on the ball. The play should have resulted in a penalty stroke for the Eagles, giving them a good chance to tie it up, but the ref did not blow her whistle and the Griffins took over possession.

 

Moments later, Alexander moved her way through the defense yet again. She juked out the keeper on a one-on-one opportunity, but pushed the ball too far out of her reach and was not able to take the shot that would have resulted in a sure Eagles goal and a tie game.

 

Juniata was finally able to score the equalizer in the 57^th minute, when the Griffin keeper charged out of the cage, leaving the goal exposed for an Eagle attack. Allison Groft (Hanover, PA / South Western) played the ball past the keeper, to where Sarah Spencer (Florence, NJ / Florence Township Memorial) was waiting in front of the cage. She redirected the ball to Bilheimer, who was right beside her. The junior put it in to tie the game at one. Just over a minute later, Spencer scored on an assist from Groft to put Juniata ahead with just over ten minutes left in the game. It was Spencer's third goal of the season and her first since the first game of the 2014 campaign.

 

Spencer had a strong day off the bench for the Eagles, with the game winner and an assist. Her coach was very encouraged by her play, not only in this game, but all season, "She came out of no where this season, coming in as that freshman who didn't get a whole lot of playing time, and became that sophomore who in the firs game of the year, scored two goals and said, 'I'm ready to be here, I'm ready to play', and I feel like she made that statement again tonight saying, 'I want to be here for my team and I want do this.' She been a huge spark off the bench all year, you couldn't ask for more out of a sub, than what you get out of Sarah Spencer."

 

Overall, Gillich was proud of the way her team has continued to battle, and did so again to earn the victory tonight, "We're very excited to be moving on to the sweet sixteen. It was a battle of a game. Having played three overtime games last week, it definitely showed a little bit early on. The girls were not quite firing on all cylinders. It took them a while to get going against a team that was ready to play an NCAA game. They came out hard, fast, and strong. In the second half we were a little bit stronger and then scoring those back-to-back goals was kind of complete insanity, it flipped the game in its head. It made us realize how much we really do want this. So what if we're tired, so what if we're exhausted, so what if we think we have nothing left to give, we do. That this is so worth it and we really want this. I think that really invigorated us and woke us up to the fact that we had to find a way to win this game and we did. We buckled down on defense towards the end. I think it was one of the first times on defense we faced a lot of corners at the end of the game and shut them down. In the past, we've had that and have gone into overtime, but not today. We were able to hold them off long enough to run the clock out, but kudos to them. They came out hard and fast, and played probably one of their best games all year. Fortunately, we were able to put it all together."

 

The home fans came out in droves to support their Eagles tonight, in what was the largest crowd of the season. The fans added to the playoff atmosphere and provided a lot of extra energy, "getting to host the tournament, to see Juniata out in force, pretty much from every direction you could hear Juniata fans cheering. That's what you hope for. You could see and feel the energy, and you could hear from the reaction just how everyone was feeling."

 

With the win, the Eagles advance to the Sweet Sixteen for the first time since 2007, when the team made it to the Elite Eight. Juniata will travel to Salisbury to play Wellesley on Saturday. Looking ahead to this weekend's matchup, Gillich stated she was looking forward to seeing what her team could do against a top ranked opponent, "Really excited to be playing against Wellesley, I think we'll match up well with them I think it will be a great hockey game, where both teams are able to show off their abilities. Hopefully, we'll see the high quality play we're capable of playing against a strong opponent. Real excited to be playing them in the sweet sixteen."