Dunn's Overtime Winner Lifts Wilkes Field Hockey Past Elizabethtown
EDWARDSVILLE – Ali Dunn's (Pittston, PA/Pittston) dramatic goal with one second left in the first overtime period lifted the Wilkes University field hockey team to a 1-0 win over Elizabethtown College at Schmidt Stadium in non-conference action on Wednesday evening. This is Wilkes' first win over the Blue Jays since at least 2007.
The Colonels are now 8-4
The action was kept to a minimum in the first quarter, as the score remained tied at zero.
Elizabethtown found some momentum early in the second quarter with two penalty corners and four shots, but goalkeeper Vanessa Damgaard (Elysburg, PA/Columbia Montour Area Vocational Technical School) was up to the task of keeping the Blue Jays off the scoreboard. Elizabethtown jumped ahead in counting stats with six shots in the second quarter but the score remained tied at zero as the game moved to halftime.
Wilkes had its best chance of the game early in the third quarter when Morghan Murphy (Mountaintop, PA/Crestwood) fought through a crowd on the right side of the goal and played the ball across to Cheyenne Mazzocca (Slatington, PA/Northern Lehigh), who had trouble handling the original pass, delaying her shot and allowing Elizabethtown's goalkeeper to move across and stop the shot.
The play remained even throughout the rest of regulation with the Colonels getting a golden opportunity when Lauren Baldwin (Clarks Summit, PA/Lackawanna Trail) intercepted a pass and jetted up the right side of the circle for a shot the rocketed wide left. The score remained even at zero as the two teams headed to overtime.
Both teams had chances in the first overtime, but the difference came when Stepanski restarted play with a long hit, finding Dunn who sprinted half the length of the field with two defenders on her back, chipping in the game winner that rolled just past the Blue Jay's goalkeeper, sending the Colonels into a frenzy just before the buzzer.
Damgaard earned her first career shutout with the win, stopping 10 shots to match her career-high.
Wilkes returns to action on Friday when it will host DeSales University for a 7:00 p.m. Middle Atlantic Conference Freedom (MAC Freedom) game at Schmidt Stadium.
