Loretto, Pa. – The Saint Francis field hockey team won its second match in a row thanks to a thrilling 3-2 victory over Central Michigan.
"It was a good win. The girls are really starting to improve." Head Coach Betta Ceretta stated.
"We always need to keep getting better, but today we put it away when we needed to put it away. We did a very good job creating opportunities and capitalizing on them. We're getting chances that we weren't getting early in the season and we're starting to rise to the occasion."
The Red Flash saw its highest offensive statistics of the season in its second come-from-behind win of the weekend. Coach Ceretta also noted her team's recent comeback ability:
"Last year we had trouble getting back into games that we were down. It's very important to now have that ability. It was a great effort today."
Saint Francis began the match slower than it hoped, being outshot 6-0 in the first quarter. The quarter ended 1-0 Central Michigan. For the next three periods, the Red Flash outshot the Chippewas 29-11 (18-5 SOG) and found a rhythm that finally broke through. Saint Francis outshot Central Michigan 6-4 in the second quarter, but no goals were scored by either team, resulting in a 1-0 Central Michigan lead at the half.
The Red Flash finally struck late in the third quarter on Agustina Deharbe's (Buenos Aires, Argentina/St. Catherine's Moorlands) third goal of the season. The goal, assisted by Samantha Olton (Diego Martin, Trinidad/Providence Girls Catholic), came with just two minutes and 40 seconds remaining in the quarter. Saint Francis seemed to be controlling the momentum up to its first goal, but Central Michigan answered right back with a goal of their own just 31 seconds later to re-grab the lead at 2-1. The Red Flash headed to the fourth quarter trailing by one.
The fourth quarter was all Red Flash. The team controlled possession well and outshot Central Michigan 8-1 in the period (5-0 SOG). With seven minutes remaining in the match, Samara Schratz (McMurray, Pa./Peters Township) crossed the ball from the right corner towards the net. The seeing-eye pass made it through three Chippewa defenders before ending up on the stick of Taylor Nesmith (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Cumberland Valley), who tied the game with her fifth goal of the season.
Nodded at two, the crowd could feel the Red Flash momentum and was eagerly awaiting the breakthrough goal to win the match. That came just two minutes and 45 seconds later. Saint Francis was moving the ball around with nice passing when Olton sent one to Nesmith, which got deflected and ended up with Taylin Lehman (Hummelstown, Pa./Lower Dauphin). Lehman's shot, which went through five players, was not seen by the Chippewas goalie and found the back of the net. Saint Francis chewed the rest of the clock with solid defense, and the match ended 3-2.
Lehman's goal was her first of the season. Samara Schratz (McMurray, Pa./Peters Township) both registered her second assist. Olton's two assists give her three on the year.
The Red Flash defense was solid in Sunday's match. After allowing five shots on goal in the first quarter, it only allowed five more shots on goal the rest of the match.
Claudia Marzec (Whitinsville, Mass./Moses Brown School) continues to anchor the defensive side of the field. She stopped eight of 10 shots for her second win of the season.
Up next for the Red Flash is another weekend homestand. It will host Long Island University on Friday, September 27 at 3:00 pm and Rider on Sunday, September 29 at noon. Both matches are nonconference.
