HUNTINGDON, Pa. – The Juniata College women's soccer team has officially achieved its best start to a season in program history with an unblemished 5-0 record, having beat Pitt.-Bradford 3-1 at Detwiler Memorial Field on Wednesday afternoon.
For the first time this season, Juniata (5-0) gave up a goal, and it happened to be in the first nine minutes of play, leaving the Eagles at a 1-0 disadvantage, a feeling they have not experienced yet this season.
"I'm glad they scored first. This team had to figure out whether or not they could come from behind or not. They needed to figure out if they had the toughness to play within their system under adversity, and we found out that we can and that will help us greatly as we move on in our season," said Head Coach Scott McKenzie.
The Eagles took 24 shots at the Pitt.-Bradford goal, with Paula Pryor (Westbrookville, N.Y./Burke Catholic) owning eight of those shots and finally connecting on one in the 41st minute when Sydney Masters (Bellefonte, Pa./Bellefonte Area) fed Pryor the ball who dribbled it up the field passed the goalie and into the net.
Less than 10 minutes into the second half, a Juniata corner kick bounced around the six-yard line for approximately 10 seconds before Masters got a head on the ball. It looked as if the ball was heading into the far corner of the goal, but a quick defensive save by Panther defender Emily Hendricks put the ball back in play where it eventually met the foot of Masters, who punched it through the defense for her first goal of the season and the game winner.
With less than a minute left on the clock, it seemed as if Juniata was going to walk away with a 2-1 victory, but a Pryor break up the sideline and a centering pass to the foot of Rose Lucidi (Bayville, N.Y./Locust Valley) for the third Juniata goal of the match made it even clearer that Juniata had the win.
Freshman Kristin Twardowski (Emmaus, Pa./Southern Lehigh) played all 90 minutes in goal for the Eagles and denied seven shots on goal, the most goals she has recorded in a game in her collegiate career.
Juniata goes on the road to face King's College at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, September 15.
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