EAST STROUDSBURG, Pa. — The Millersville women's soccer team traveled to take on No. 21 East Stroudsburg, pulling off a 2–1 upset win over the Warriors on Saturday afternoon.
The Marauders used an early goal to take control of the match, opening the scoring seven minutes in. The Warriors tried to clear the ball out of the box, but after bouncing off a defender and landing right on the foot of
Kiley Marandola, the senior buried it in the lower left corner of the net to give Millersville the lead. It was a low-event first half, as neither team registered a shot on goal until the second half and the Marauders went into the break up 1–0.
Both teams started the second half with more offensive intensity, as the Marauders had three chances in the first 10 minutes, forcing East Stroudsburg to come up with a pair of saves to keep the score as it was. The Warriors flipped the field shortly after though, peppering the Millersville net with shots.
Sabrina Zimmerman made the stops when she needed to, but the Marauders defense got in the way of two and forced another two off target.
Opportunistically, the Marauders were able to clear it down the right side, putting
Aubrey Strohecker in a race with her defender down the sideline. Strohecker was able to beat her defender to the ball, coming in on the goal at an angle. East Stroudsburg's goalkeeper came out at an angle to try and prevent a pass to the middle, giving Strohecker enough space to take the shot herself, putting it in the bottom right corner and scoring an insurance goal for Millersville.
The Warriors got on the board with under 10 minutes to go off a goal from Rebecca Kotula, but Millersville's defense would only allow one more shot attempt for East Stroudsburg, which was another one off Kotula's foot and stopped by Zimmerman.
Millersville improved to 4–2–1 overall and now stands at 3–2–1 against PSAC opponents. The Marauders play one more game on the road before returning to Pucillo Field, as they'll take on Shepherd at 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 2 in Shepherdstown, W. Va.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- East Stroudsburg took 10 shots to Millersville's seven, but the Marauders put five on net, while the Warriors managed only four.
- The Marauders led the Warriors in corners 8–3.
GAME NOTES
- Having strung together wins against Shippensburg and now East Stroudsburg, the Marauders have won consecutive games for the first time this season.
- Since 2019, the Marauders are 8–2–1 against the Warriors.
POSTGAME REACTION FROM HEAD COACH MATT PROCOPIO
- Key takeaways: "Getting a road win to close out the week against a top team is good. We won the week like we spoke about, and were able to accomplish other goals we set out to do as well."
- On winning versus a ranked opponent: "It's good to beat a ranked team, but its only one game and it's early in the season. We must continue to go game-by-game and week-by-week to continue to putting it together to be where we want to be in the end."
- On the team's culture boosting the play: "Culture is key and guides what we do. However, you must cultivate that daily. We must continue to grow and improve throughout the season."
