The Cavaliers women’s field hockey team took the field with a certain swagger coming off of two straight victories on Thursday, Sept. 20. That swagger continued in a 7-3 win over the Widener University Pride, marking their third straight win.
“It’s very important to come out and get our third straight win because Saturday is our conference game,” 17th-year head coach Jackie Neary said. “I think tonight we finally clicked and we’ve been waiting for this game all year.”
The Lady Cavs wasted no time in this game to get on the scoreboard as junior Erin McLaughlin scored on a rebound just five minutes into the game.
“We had a set corner and I kind of deviated from it and when I got the ball,” McLaughlin said. “I saw the girl coming so I took a shot. The first one was blocked but I followed up my rebound and I was able to put the ball in the net.”
But the Pride wasn’t going to make things easy for the Lady Cavs. Just 10 minutes later, junior Brittany Gunderson passed to freshman Meghan Garvey who scored to tie the game.
Atzert scored her first goal of the the night less than five minutes later with the help of a great pass by senior Kate Solewin.
But again, the Pride didn’t take long to knot the score. Just four minutes later, Gunderson found the back of the net to send the game into halftime tied at two. The Lady Cav’s outshot Widener 10-3 in the first half.
Seven minutes into the second half, Widener junior Devin Biglin received a pass from junior Samantha Balonis and scored to give the Pride their first lead of the night.
The lead didn’t last long, as the Lady Cavs netted the equalizer just four minutes later. Senior Taylor McGarvey found freshman Kerry Anne Farrell. Farrell’s shot beat Pride goalkeeper Maggie Karmeris to tie the game again.
Moments later, Atzert began a scoring surge. She netted her second goal, the eventual game-winner, just eight minutes after Farrell’s game-tying goal. Again, McGarvey assisted on the tally.
Thirty seconds later, Atzert scored again to complete the hat trick and give the Lady Cavs a two-goal lead.
Atzert’s fourth and final goal came in the 64th minute off an assist from Farrell.
“Widener’s intensity was high so I knew we had to keep our intensity up also.” Atzert said. “Luckily the ball was there and I was in the right spot so I put them all in.”
Solewin scored in the 67th minute to ice the game. It was her first goal of the season.
The Lady Cavs return to the field to host conference rival Marywood University on Saturday, Sept. 22, at 1:30 p.m.
