MILLERSVILLE, Pa. --- No. 8 ranked Millersville field hockey (5-4, PSAC 2-1) got their first win over a nationally ranked opponent in thrilling fashion this morning against No.10 Indiana University of Pennsylvania (4-4, PSAC 1-2) on Chryst Field to open up homecoming weekend for the Marauders.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Alexis Kern continued her hot goal streak by opening up the scoring for the Marauders just five minutes into the opening quarter off a corner opportunity. The corner, inserted by
Faith Bollinger, made its way to
Erin Esterhuizen who passed it over to Kern who took one touch inside and took a strike from 13 yards out that blazed past the goalie making it 1-0 in favor of Millersville.
After the Kern goal, the first quarter was dominated by IUP on the offensive side of the ball, but the great goalkeeping of
Sarah Crysler kept the Crimson Hawks at bay with three total saves to start the game.
The second quarter was a mirror image of the first, but for opposite sides of the spectrum. The Marauders took three total shots but put one on cage, but the Crimson Hawks tied things up just before going into the half break. The Crimson Hawks sent a long ball all the way up to a sprinting forward who lifted the ball over Crysler to tie the game.
The battle of titans continued and stalled in the third quarter with both teams taking three shots. Not all shots tell the same story on the stat sheet however, the Crimson Hawks had a great scoring opportunity that resulted in a huge save by
Addy Arkhurst to keep the game tied. The shot was from about six yards out and was rocketed towards the feet of Arkhurst in which she had the quick reaction time to kick it aside.
The fourth quarter is where things intensified. Both teams went back and fourth exchanging blows and offensive opportunities that threatened the tie. It wasn't until 2:19 seconds left in the fourth quarter where the Marauders finally broke through again, this time courtesy of
Peyton Bean, who took the shot off a corner that was earned by
Emma Zauck. Bean received a pass from
Lauren Kampi off a
Daina Thomson insert to break the tie and take the lead.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Alexis Kern and Peyton Bean scored the goals for Millersville. Kern's ninth of the season and Bean's first of her career.
- Millersvilles' goalies Arkhurst and Crysler combined for five saves to hold the Crimson Hawks to just one goal.
POSTGAME WITH SHELLY BEHRENS
- You took seven corners today, finally broke through with the execution off the goal by Peyton Bean, the first of her career. What was that moment like? And can you speak to the trust that you have in every player on this team to score a goal, not just the stat leaders?
- "Yeah, no, thank you. I think that's what makes us a complete team, that we have at any given moment, people can you know, step up and do the job and they really challenged our defense and our goalkeeping today to tighten it up. I thought again, at times, just a little sloppy here and there, but I think a quicker change to be positive was in the midfield today. But the feeling is great it is a game winner. Shout out to Zauck, for getting the corner. And I think today we strayed at times a little bit from some things with our game plan, but they wrapped it back in and brought it back in. I thought that was tightening up. That was great. So, you know, hey, great team win, good team in the PSAC."
- You've been so close to all these top 10 teams. You're able to knock off one here today, describe that feeling.
- "You know, I think for us, it was just a solid team win, and my focus and Erica's focus and Kirsten's was just on our performance today, like, focusing on the kids in our performance. That just gets to be the result. But yeah, it doesn't feel bad."
