First Half Goals Too Much For Juniata Field Hockey In NCAA

LYNCHBURG, Va. - The Juniata College field hockey team traveled to Lynchburg College to take on the Hornets in the first round of the 2009 NCAA Division III Field Hockey Championships. They also had to battle the remains of Hurricane Ida, as the Eagles lost a rain drenched matchup, 5-3 on Wednesday evening.

After a long, six hour trek to Virginia, the Eagles were unable to shake off the early rust as the Hornets got on the board within the first 30 seconds of the game. Jordan Warrington scored her first goal of the game as she took the opening tip from Juniata and maneuvered down the field for the 1-0 lead, 28 seconds into the first half. Allie Weir had the assist.

The Hornets than scored two goals in a 22 second span to take a commanding 3-0 lead. Weir scored her first goal of the game off a pass from Shelly Milks at the 19:45 mark. Warrington then followed up with another goal off the restart, again marching down the field, beating senior goalkeeper Denalyn Spratt (Haddon Heights, N.J./Haddon Heights). Jenny Weir assisted Warrington's second goal, making it 3-0 with just less than 15 minutes remaining in the half.

Head Coach Caroline Gillich called a time-out following the third goal, in an effort to calm the Eagles and break the momentum of the Hornets. The tactic seemed to work, as the Eagles responded with a goal of their own.

With 13:05 remaining in the first half, one minute and 48 seconds after the timeout, sophomore Shauna Deschenes (Duncannon, Pa./Susquenita) got the Eagles on the board off a pass by freshman Caroline Phillips (Wilimginton, Del./Concord). The score remained 3-1 heading into the half.

The second half started promising for Juniata, as they busted out of the gate and closed the game to a one goal deficit one minute and twelve seconds into the second half. Sophomore Kim Amrod (Ridgefeld, Conn./Ridgefield) scored an unassisted goal off a rebound to put the Eagles back in the game. She beat goalkeeper Sarah Cates with a shot from the penalty stroke area, making the score 3-2 with 33:48 left in regulation.

But that is as close as the Eagles would get as Lynchburg (18-3) made it a three goal lead again with back-to-back goals. Warrington completed her hat-trick with exactly 38 minutes remaining as she scored off a pass by Signey Milks.

The game was deadlocked for the next 14 minutes before Allie Weir tallied her second goal of the game. Warrington capped her seven point day off with an assist to Weir, 52:51into the game.

Meghan McGlone (Coopersburg, Pa./Southern Lehigh) made the game interesting with under five minutes remaining in the second half. At the 66:53 mark, McGlone scored an unassisted goal following a penalty corner. After receiving the pass from Amrod, McGlone found an opening between the defense and wristed the ball between the legs of Amrod who was on the goal line, looking for the tip-in.

The goal cut the Hornet's lead to 5-3, but left too little time on the clock to get back into the game any further.

Spratt played the first 55:44 in goal for Juniata before giving way to Moira Nugent (Lancaster, Pa./Lampeter-Strasburg). Spratt recorded seven saves in goal while Nugent stopped two shots. Cates played all 70 minutes for Lynchburg, making two saves.

The Hornets outshot the Eagles, 26-9 and had more penalty corners, 10-5.

The loss ends a terrific season for the Eagles who won their third straight Landmark Conference Championship, earning the automatic qualifying bid into the NCAA Division III Field Hockey Championships for the first time. It is the fourth time the team has reached the NCAA's in the program's history. The Eagles finish the season 17-5 overall while going 6-0 in the Landmark Conference.

Story provided by Juniata Sports Information