Rowe tallied her team high 5th goal of the year.
For just the second game ever at Ellen Ryan Field, the Hawks had a tall task at hand when the #7 ranked California Golden Bears came to town. It did not take long for the Bears to get on the board either. Just under two minutes in, Andrea Earle score at the 33:02 mark after some nice passing from the Bears to give them a 1-0.
Cal slipped into some sloppy play including a yellow card from junior back Deanna Kennedy just about six minutes into the half. With the Bears playing man down, the Hawks put the pressure on goalkeeper Maddie Hand. With 23:28 remaining in the first half, senior co-captain Ellen Rowe took the pass from Theresa Testa to score and tie the game at 1. It was Rowe’s team leading fifth goal of the year.
The Bears responded just 41 seconds later when Lara Kruggel scored on a beautiful shot from just inside the arc. After a controversial call awarded the Bears a penalty stroke with 14:55 remaining in the first half, senior goalkeeper Liz Messaros came up big for the Hawks with a diving save. Just minutes later the Bears kept pressing. Despite some tough defense from junior forward Meghan Githens and senior co-captain Rachel Walsh, the Bears stretched the lead to 3-1 with 13:02 remaining off of a rebound from Messaros. The shot came from Messaros’ left as she made a fantastic diving stop but the rebound landed right on the stick of Lauren Livingston who put it home for the Bears.
The Bears kept pressing and the Hawks defense kept answering with big clearance after big clearance. After a quirky play that saw SJU junior back Abby Hoover get tackled in front of the net, Deanna Kennedy beat Messaros on a loose ball in front to stretch the Cal lead to 4-1 with 11:39 remaining.
Despite being down by three the Hawks really weren’t getting out played. For the remainder of the first half St. Joe’s was peppering Bears GK Hand with shots but just weren’t quite getting the bounces.
Redshirt freshman goalkeeper Katie Mitchell stepped in for Messaros in the second half. Just a 1:05 into the second half Lauren Livingston scored again for Cal to up the lead to 5-1. The Hawks proved to be resilient as Therese Doyle scored with 31:28 remaining in the second half. Then the chest match began. The Hawks and Bears traded goal scoring opportunities for the remaining thirty one and a half minutes but couldn’t convert. “They were a good team and came out strong,” said senior Theresa Testa, who got the assist on Rowe’s goal. “It took us some time to adjust to their speed and skill but we held them in the second half and even put in a goal.” The Hawks ended up losing by a final of 5-2.
“They’re ranked #7 so we knew coming into it that it was going to be a challenging game,” said Hawks’ co-captain Rachel Walsh after the game. “But overall I think we stayed with them pretty well. We were able to score 2 goals against a really skilled team and defensively stopped most of their critical offensive drives. We have a lot of potential, we have so much to prove and we're just focusing on moving forward into the a-10 conference”
Liz Messaros and Katie Mitchell combined to make ten saves for Saint Joseph’s. Maggie Hand made five for the Bears.
The Bears improve to 9-2 on the year and St. Joe’s falls to 2-6. The Hawks hit the road for a Sunday afternoon matchup against Siena up in Albany, NY.
-Steve Dolan
Cal slipped into some sloppy play including a yellow card from junior back Deanna Kennedy just about six minutes into the half. With the Bears playing man down, the Hawks put the pressure on goalkeeper Maddie Hand. With 23:28 remaining in the first half, senior co-captain Ellen Rowe took the pass from Theresa Testa to score and tie the game at 1. It was Rowe’s team leading fifth goal of the year.
The Bears responded just 41 seconds later when Lara Kruggel scored on a beautiful shot from just inside the arc. After a controversial call awarded the Bears a penalty stroke with 14:55 remaining in the first half, senior goalkeeper Liz Messaros came up big for the Hawks with a diving save. Just minutes later the Bears kept pressing. Despite some tough defense from junior forward Meghan Githens and senior co-captain Rachel Walsh, the Bears stretched the lead to 3-1 with 13:02 remaining off of a rebound from Messaros. The shot came from Messaros’ left as she made a fantastic diving stop but the rebound landed right on the stick of Lauren Livingston who put it home for the Bears.
The Bears kept pressing and the Hawks defense kept answering with big clearance after big clearance. After a quirky play that saw SJU junior back Abby Hoover get tackled in front of the net, Deanna Kennedy beat Messaros on a loose ball in front to stretch the Cal lead to 4-1 with 11:39 remaining.
Despite being down by three the Hawks really weren’t getting out played. For the remainder of the first half St. Joe’s was peppering Bears GK Hand with shots but just weren’t quite getting the bounces.
Redshirt freshman goalkeeper Katie Mitchell stepped in for Messaros in the second half. Just a 1:05 into the second half Lauren Livingston scored again for Cal to up the lead to 5-1. The Hawks proved to be resilient as Therese Doyle scored with 31:28 remaining in the second half. Then the chest match began. The Hawks and Bears traded goal scoring opportunities for the remaining thirty one and a half minutes but couldn’t convert. “They were a good team and came out strong,” said senior Theresa Testa, who got the assist on Rowe’s goal. “It took us some time to adjust to their speed and skill but we held them in the second half and even put in a goal.” The Hawks ended up losing by a final of 5-2.
“They’re ranked #7 so we knew coming into it that it was going to be a challenging game,” said Hawks’ co-captain Rachel Walsh after the game. “But overall I think we stayed with them pretty well. We were able to score 2 goals against a really skilled team and defensively stopped most of their critical offensive drives. We have a lot of potential, we have so much to prove and we're just focusing on moving forward into the a-10 conference”
Liz Messaros and Katie Mitchell combined to make ten saves for Saint Joseph’s. Maggie Hand made five for the Bears.
The Bears improve to 9-2 on the year and St. Joe’s falls to 2-6. The Hawks hit the road for a Sunday afternoon matchup against Siena up in Albany, NY.
-Steve Dolan
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