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PHOTOS
Annville, Pa. (Nov. 2, 2011) - Third-seeded Alvernia University (13-6) scored four unanswered goals in the second half of a 5-3 win over #2 Lebanon Valley College (14-5) Wednesday afternoon in a Commonwealth Conference Field Hockey semifinal at LVC's Field Hockey Stadium. The win advances the Crusaders to the Commonwealth Final Saturday at top-seeded Messiah College at 1:00 p.m.
After some early pressure from the Dutchmen, Alvernia junior
Miranda Peto (Phoenixville, Pa./Phoenixville) scored on breakaway in the game's 11th minute.
"I was thinking score, number one," said Peto. "We work on 1-v-1s in practice all the time, so I just went with my go-to move."
Her go-to move beat LVC goalie Christine Poletti to the goalie's left and Peto sent it to the boards for the opening score.
Alvernia looked like it may be able to take the 1-0 lead into the halftime break, but LVC senior Jocelyn Novak, the all-time leading goal-scorer in Division III, scored a pair of goals separated by 18 seconds that gave the hosts a 2-1 lead. The Dutchmen followed that with the first goal in the second half--the first of the year from Mandi Albright--and had a 3-1 lead with just over 30 minutes left to play.
"I tried to keep my head up and not let it get me down," said Alvernia freshman
Erin Wunsch (West Lawn, Pa./Wilson) now facing a two-goal deficit. "I just wanted to stay aggressive."
Wunsch recorded six of her 10 saves in the second half, four of them in an eight-minute stretch protecting the 4-3 lead.
The Crusaders regrouped from LVC's third straight, and cut the deficit in half four minutes later when senior
Sam Landis (Watsontown, Pa./Warrior Run) finished a pass from
Katy Eby (New Holland, Pa./Garden Spot) for her 12th of the season.
Erin Solley (Reading, Pa./Oley Valley) cleaned up a corner play right in front of the LVC netminder in the 49th minute to tie the game at 3-3.
"Usually when we have a play on it's for me to pass and I just crash the post," said Solley after an exhausting victory. "I was thinking just make sure you lift it over the goalie and bury it."
Eby scored on a beautiful backhand effort in the 55th minute to put the Crusaders back on top and Solley scored again on a corner play with under five minutes left in the game. It's the first time in her career that Solley has scored two goals in a game.
Alvernia, which snapped a six-game losing skid against LVC dating back to the 2004 ECAC Final, is making its second straight appearance in the Commonwealth Playoffs and its first in the final.
#3 Alvernia 2, #2 Lebanon Valley 1
