By: Laura Chapman
Assistant Sports Information Director
chapmal@juniata.edu • juniatasports.net
Photo: JD Cavrich Photography
ALTOONA, Pa. – The Juniata College women's soccer team capped of its non-conference season with a 6-1 win over Penn State-Altoona, Tuesday evening. Four different Eagles tallied goals for Juniata as the team improved to 13-4 on the year. With the third goal of the night the Eagles set a new Juniata College women's soccer program record for goals in a season. They now stand at 50 goals on the year having broken the previous record of 46 set in 2007.
"It took about 15 or 20 minutes to get into the rhythm of the game," said head coach Scott McKenzie. "It was one of those times where [Assistant Coach] Kaleigh [Herring] and I looked at each other and she said, 'all it's going to take is one,' and she was right. Alicia got her first and we found out how to exploit some of their players and then she got her second and it all just kind of fell into place."
The opening 30 minutes of the match were filled with close calls and near misses for the Eagles. At the 12:30 mark, senior Paula Pryor (Westbrookville, N.Y./Burke Catholic) carried the ball down the far side and served a cross into the middle of the box. Sophomore Emily Green (Marietta, Pa./Donegal) beat her defender to the ball, but her shot sailed high over the net. The half continued with the Eagles threatening, but unable to finish until the 30th minute when senior Alicia Snyder (Jonestown, Pa./Northern Lebanon) took the ball off the foot of an Altoona defender. She went one-on-one with the goalkeeper and slotted the ball to the far post to put the Eagles up 1-0.
"Alicia is a very unselfish player," said McKenzie. "Almost to a fault. She plays with the mindset of, 'I will only succeed if my team does.' But every once in a while she decides to take the team and put them on her shoulder and say, ok, we're having a hard time getting going here, I'll take care of this, and then boom, it gets done. She doesn't like to do that because she's just that unselfish of a player, but when she needs to take over she takes over. She really opened the door for the rest of the team."
Less than a minute later Snyder struck again when she took a pass from junior Lauren Liacouras (Collegeville, Pa./Perkiomen Valley) and blasted a shot from 20 yards out that slid just under the cross bar for the 2-0 lead. Juniata continued to hammer the Altoona net as, with less than two minutes remaining, senior Jenna Rodrigue (Manchester, Conn./Manchester) was yet another Juniata player to end up one-on-one with the Lions goalkeeper. She made the most of her opportunity, placing her shot inside the near post for the third Juniata goal of the first half. The Eagles did not allow a shot on goal in the first half and took ten of their own, converting three.
The Eagles never broke stride as Snyder almost made it a hat trick just over three minutes into the second half. The Altoona keeper made a great save on the shot to the far upper corner to deny Snyder. Two minutes later, Pryor had a similar scenario on the opposite side of the field, but her shot was wide of the net. Snyder continued to be dangerous and she earned another golden opportunity from the far side, but her shot slipped just wide of the post.
In the 67th minute, Snyder tried for yet another time get her third goal of the match, but the shot hit the cross bar. Just second's later sophomore Sarah Rhodes (Bloomfield, N.Y./Bloomfield Central) took a pass from classmate Valerie Hersh (Huntingdon, Pa./Huntingdon Area) and beat the keeper far post to put the Eagles up 4-0.
"Sarah is always a bundle of energy," said McKenzie. "She hits the filed going a thousand miles an hour and then speeds up. We put her in where Alicia way playing so some of Sarah's success was systemic, but it becomes the responsibility of the player to take advantage of that. Sarah was able to do that. Her goals were hustle goals. You have to have in your mind that you are going to see the play through to its conclusion to be able to take advantage of a mistake by your opponent and Sarah did exactly what athletes do which is follow a play to its conclusion."
Rhodes added her second goal of the match less than two minutes after the first. Pryor played a ball across the box that the Altoona keeper came out for. She was unable to hold on and Rhodes was there for the finish, notching her fifth goal of the year. The Lions scored their lone goal in the 74th minute on a header from a corner kick. Juniata answered right back as Pryor took a through ball and beat the Altoona keeper for her 14th goal of the season and the 6-1 lead.
Overall, the Eagles outshot the Lions 26-6 in the match and out cornered them 4-2.
Juniata next plays at home this Saturday, Nov. 2, at 1 p.m. in the first half of a Landmark Conference double header with the men's team against Drew University. Saturday will be the final match of the regular season for both programs and senior day for the two teams as well.
"We're going to face a higher degree of pressure from Drew," said McKenzie. "We're going to see a team with a higher degree of confidence. I think the way we have things set right now is something we have a lot of confidence in. We'll hit Saturday's game with a high degree of confidence and a high degree of motivation. This group understands that they're setting some records that are going to last for a bit. This is a special group and what they are accomplishing is special. They've figured that out and they don't want it to stop."
Follow Your Eagles! Stay up-to-date on your Juniata College Eagles by following us on twitter (@JuniataEagles) and on Facebook (Juniata Eagles).
