The Elizabethtown College women’s field hockey team defeated No. 10 Ursinus College on Saturday for a 2-1 victory. Junior Jacalyn Hikes and senior Taylor Alwine both recorded their first goals of the season. The Jays’ offensive pressure and strong defense lasted throughout the entire game to pull off a win against a nationally-ranked visiting team.
The first four minutes of the rainy Saturday game provided Etown with three penalty corners and four shots on goal. Even though Ursinus had early penalty corners, it could not manage to have any shots on goal from the corners. However, at 12:40 in the first half, the visitors capitalized on a penalty corner with a give-and-go between players to give Ursinus a 1-0 lead.
Etown did not let the Ursinus lead break their spirits. They kept up the pressure and responded at 22:15 with a goal to tie the game from Alwine off a penalty corner delivered by senior Emily Mason.
Head Coach Brandy Michael noted that the team needed to focus on playing tough during the entire game and that the leadership of the veteran upperclassmen would be a vital asset to reaching a victory. The veteran leadership was shown from several Etown upperclassmen as evidenced by the cohesive play from the entire team.
Momentum quickly shifted in Etown’s favor. Another penalty corner would give the Jays an opportunity to score. At first, Ursinus’ goalkeeper blocked a shot from Alwine off the corner from senior Andrea Keady, but Hikes made contact with the deflection to fire it right back towards the goal and past the goalkeeper, putting the Jays up 2-1.
The rest of the game was played at a high intensity, as Ursinus outshot Etown 11-6 in the second half and had 14 penalty corners, while the Jays only had two. Senior goalkeeper Selene Jones made six of the 11 saves, a career-high, in the final 10 minutes of the game to secure the Etown lead and victory.
The win on Saturday was the first against a nationally-ranked team this season and will give the team confidence moving forward. The Jays faced tough competition early in the season, and the team is using this experience to build its development. “We have had a difficult schedule so far, playing some ranked teams, and although we were not able to come through with any wins in those games, they were all very close, and we recognized what we needed to work on to improve,” Alwine said.
Alwine believes the team is still figuring out the best way to work together. “Right now, capitalizing on our opportunities is our biggest issue, but I do feel like we are working on that each game and at each practice. Also, understanding how each of our teammates play is so important, and I think we’re still figuring each other out right now,” she said.
Alwine, Keady and Michael all agree that the goal for the season is to win the conference and make a statement. They will soon begin conference play against Catholic University. “I think Catholic will be our biggest threat in the Landmark Conference,” Keady said. “They are always a tough game, but we beat them last year and we can do it again.”
The Jays will travel to Reading, Pa on Saturday, Sept. 20 to face Albright College.
