By: Laura Chapman
Assistant Sports Information Director
chapmal@juniata.edu • juniatasports.net
Photo: Jennifer Jones
HUNTINGDON, Pa. – On a cloudy, windy, and chilly day on Winton Hill Field, the Juniata College women's soccer team took down Drew University, 3-0, to earn the second seed in the Landmark Conference Tournament. Drew will return to Huntingdon, Wednesday, Nov. 6, for the tournament semi-finals.
"This team has always wanted to make sure they did the right thing by the seniors who are the architects of where we are now," said head coach Scott McKenzie. "To get them not only a playoff game, but a home playoff game, you can't write a Hollywood script that sounds that nice."
After the opening five minutes, in which Drew controlled the ball in the Juniata end of the field, the Eagles drove the ball the other way. Senior Paula Pryor (Westbrookville, N.Y./Burke Catholic) worked hard for a number of opportunities, but was unable to finish. With under two minutes remaining in the first half, senior Alicia Snyder (Jonestown, Pa./Northern Lebanon) looked to capitalize on some slow play by the Rangers back line. The clearance from the Drew defender rebounded off Snyder as she charged forward and the ball snuck past the diving goalkeeper, but was kept out by the goalpost. Drew outshot Juniata 6-5 in the first half, but freshman goalkeeper Erin Mueller (Bedford, Pa./Bedford) made two saves to help keep the game scoreless into halftime.
"The tendency of established programs is to attribute the success of a newcomer to happenstance," said McKenzie. "I think we've gotten on the back end of some of that this year. People are saying, yeah Juniata is having a good year, but it's a great year for Juniata. I think our opponents, with all due respect to them, are waiting for the other shoe to drop. They're waiting for Juniata to go ahead and say, 'we've had a good enough season and now we're going to do what we've always done or what people want us to do, and go away.' But this group is not going to go quietly into the night."
The Eagles broke the scoreless tie in the 68th minute when Snyder wrestled the ball off a Drew defenders foot and made a sliding cross into the box. Pryor ran onto the ball and volleyed it one time past the diving keeper and into the side netting.
"The one thing we can say with absolute assuredness is that Paula Pryor is no longer a secret," said McKenzie. "She hasn't been a secret for weeks. Susquehanna man marked her in addition to having their regular defense out there. Every time we were on offense today you heard people say, where's 20? Who's got 20? And then she got the game winner."
In the 83rd minute Pryor got free with the ball on the left wing and crossed it into the box. The Drew keeper made a play for it, but Juniata sophomore Sarah Rhodes (Bloomfield, N.Y./Bloomfield Central) hustled in and connected for her sixth goal of the season. Just over five minutes later Snyder pounced on a loose ball in the six yard box and blasted it home to give Juniata a solid 3-0 lead with just over two minutes remaining.
"If there was any doubt that Paula's goal wouldn't stand up, Alicia came through," said McKenzie. "Alicia's goal was hustle. It was all about hustle and so was Sarah's. Sarah Rhodes, I brought her to me on the sideline before I put her in and I said, 'don't forget to defend, but you have a knack for finding the goal, go find it.' There's a pretty decent comfort level on our team with the fact that kids know what they do. They know what their role is and they know how they can help. Today I think you saw Paula do what Paula does, Alicia do what she does, and Sarah as well."
At the end of the match, the Eagles outshot Drew 18-13 and withstood seven shots in the second half. Mueller finished with six saves and the Juniata defense, anchored by senior Molly Sellars (Caldwell, N.J./Caldwell) who played all 90 minutes, denied three corner kicks from the Rangers to earn the seventh team shutout of the season.
"Molly [was injured] last year against Drew," said McKenzie. "For her to play the whole game today… Good for her. Didn't draw it up that way, but when rubber hits the road, you can pick your working group there. She did her job. She did wonderfully well today."
With the win Juniata improves to 14-4 on the year. They have won a program-high four conference games this season and now stand at 3-5 all-time against Drew.
"I would attribute the resiliency and the ability to be high functioning towards the end of a match to the fitness we've practiced all year," said McKenzie. "This team got angry at us for running them at practice. I said to them, 'what we are trying to do is have the team understand that they are capable of so much more than they think they are. I wouldn't have run you had I not been completely convinced you are capable of running and recovering and being stronger because of it. It's time that I'm not the only one that believes that you are capable of more."
The Eagles' season will continue this Wednesday, Nov. 6, at 2:30 p.m. on Winton Hill Field when they host Drew University in the semi-finals of the Landmark Conference Tournament.
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