HUNTINGDON, Pa. – The Juniata College field hockey team (8-9) celebrated Head Coach Caroline Gillich's 300th game with a 3-2 win over Dickinson College Wednesday afternoon on Goodman Field. The Eagles were efficient offensively, scoring their three goals from just five shots-on-goal to earn their second straight win.
"We did a great job of scoring and assisting and really setting each other up," said Gillich. "Not just in attack opportunities on the offensive end but also actual scoring opportunities to goal."
Senior Caroline Phillips (Wilmington, Del./Concord) had two of the Eagles goals, including the game winner, her first of the season. Phillips leads the team with nine goals and is second in points (19) this year.
Dickinson struck first in the 13th minute. Caroline Karwel found Alex Boorse inside the circle off the corner to give Dickinson the 1-0 lead.
The Eagles responded in the 28th minute off a corner of their own. Phillips stopped an insertion from freshman Sara Bilheimer (Bethlehem, Pa./Freedom) and blasted the ball from just inside the top of the circle. Sophomore Kortney Showers (Aspers, Pa./Biglerville) scored her fourth goal of the season two minutes later off a pass from junior Emma Dahmus (Hummelstown, Pa./Lower Dauphin) before the end of the first half.
Juniata led 2-1 at the break having shot a perfect 2-for-2 on-goal.
Phillips would score the eventual game winner in the 44th minute off another corner. This time the ball was inserted by fellow senior Jill McNeish (Greensburg, Pa./Hempfield Area) before Phillips drilled it in just inside the circle.
Dickinson (7-10) scored with under four minutes to play but could not find the equalizer in the final minutes. They outshot the Eagles 11-8 in the game, but Juniata earned eight corners to the Red Devils six.
Senior Janelle Howard (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Cumberland Valley) spent the full 70 minutes and snagged a game-high seven saves.
"Janelle had another solid game in goal," said Gillich. "She kept coming up time and time again with big saves as well as stepping up high on Dickinson's long balls that might have otherwise gotten through to an attacker."
Howard has 75 saves on the season in over 1,079 minutes on the field.
Juniata has just one home game left in 2012. The Eagles will celebrate their three seniors, McNeish, Howard and Phillips, before the 1 p.m. Landmark Conference finale against Scranton this Sunday, Oct. 28. Juniata is 4-1 against Scranton all-time but lost 3-1 the last time they faced in 2011.
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