Eagles Field Hockey Falls to Dutchwomen in Overtime

ANNVILLE, Pa.- Juniata and Lebanon Valley went into an extra period on Wednesday night at Arnold Field. Maddie Fox scored for the Dutchwomen in the extra frame to give Lebanon Valley a 3-2 win over Juniata.

At 18:40 of the first half, Lindsay Scholten (Brookfield, Conn./Brookfield) was green carded. With a player down, the Dutchwomen took advantage of the situation. Mckenna Lupold took a hard shot that Brittany Fleisher deflected into the goal past Eagle goaltender Kylie Edwards (Danville, Pa./Danville) to give Lebanon Valley a 1-0 lead.

The score stood at 1-0 for most of the first half. With just 16 seconds remaining before overtime, Juniata got on the board as Allison Groft (Hanover, Pa/South Western) scored off an assist from Brittany Meier (Pennsylvania Furnace, Pa./State College Area HS) as the Eagles tied the contest up at 1-1.

In the second half, JC took the lead when Scholten scored her first collegiate goal off an assist from Sarah Bilheimer (Bethlehem, Pa./Freedom) at the 48^th minute. The JC lead was short-lived as the host Dutchwomen struck back in the 52^nd minute when Fleisher scored off a deflection to tie the contest at 2-2. The score would remain that way through the end of regulation as the game went into overtime.

In the extra period, Lebanon Valley's Maddie Fox scored to the right side of the cage past Edwards to give the Dutchwomen the victory. Overall, the Dutchwomen held a 12-10 edge in overall shots. Both teams had six shots on goal. Lebanon Valley led in penalty corners, 10-7.

"Today we played a good game, not our A game, but we got better as the game went on," said head coach Caroline Gillich. "We started a little rough adjusting to a field that is much slower that ours. We had many great scoring opportunities and put two in; one on a corner and one in open play. We love a fast field and this team knows we can score more and its getting that hunger in the last 25 to shoot and score. I am confident this team will continue to grow and get stronger."

Edwards received the start in goal and had one save on the evening. Santana Mays (Parkton, Md./Hereford) also saw action and stopped two shots.

Juniata returns to Goodman Field at Knox Stadium this Saturday to host #1 ranked and defending National Champion College of New Jersey. Game time will be at 3 p.m.

"Last year we played a strong defensive match against them, and lost by the smallest margin 0-1," noted Gillich. "This year we will look to be more attacking and generate goals."