Reading, Pa. (October 31, 2007) – The Alvernia College women's field hockey team will be playing in the Pennsylvania Athletic Conference finals for the third straight year after defeating visiting Gwynedd Mercy College this afternoon 1-0. Sophomore phenom
Janelle Lynch (Macungie, PA/Brandywine Heights) was assisted by
Amber Landis (Ephrata, PA/Ephrata) for the game-winning goal. This was Lynch's conference-leading 16th goal and her fourth game-winner this season.
The Crusaders would dominate most of the first half, firing off 11 shots and earning five out of their 12 total penalty corners in the first ten minutes. However, Alvernia's offensive barrage was consistently turned away by Gwynedd's defensive efforts. Griffin goalie Aubrey McDevitt (Narbeth, PA/Upper Merion) would make nine saves in the first half to hold onto the 0-0 tie.
Perhaps
Alvernia's best chance to score in the first half came when they were awarded a penalty stroke when Lynch was fouled by McDevitt on a breakaway; however Lauren Yoder (Fleetwood, PA/Oley Valley) missed just high and left of the cage for Alvernia in the 32nd minute.
The Crusaders outshot the Griffins 16-0 in the first half and tallied seven penalty corners to Gwynedd-Mercy's zero.
The second half proved to be an even battle, with both teams firing off eight shots and earning five penalty corners a piece. The Crusaders finally hit the back of the net when Lynch received the corner pass in from Landis and drilled it home into the top left corner of the net to put Alvernia up for good.
Alvernia would need seven saves in the second half from goalie Audrey Hoffman (Mertztown, PA/Brandywine Heights) to preserve the shut out. This was Hoffman's PAC-leading seventh shut out of the season.
The Crusaders will now gear up to play Eastern in the PAC final which will be played at Alvernia on Saturday November 3rd at 2:00 pm. Eastern easily handled Misericordia 5-0 in the other PAC semi-final this afternoon after scoring four goals in the first half. This will be a repeat of last year's PAC final game that saw Eastern defeat Alvernia 2-0.
PAC Semi-Final
Alvernia 1, Gwynedd-Mercy 0
