Ronald Hanaki
Staff Writer
A late rally by ESU women’s soccer was not enough to overcome conceding two early goals to Bloomsburg University as the Warriors fell 2-1 to the Huskies on Wednesday, Sept. 25 at Eiler-Martin Stadium.
However, the rematch played out differently. ESU played from behind for most of the game.
The Warriors rallied in the second half and had several scoring chances, but Huskies’ redshirt junior goalkeeper Jenna Hawkins kept making outstanding saves to deny the Warriors a goal.
With two minutes left in the game, the Warriors were awarded a corner kick. There was a scrum in front of the net, and freshman Brienn Seaman kicked the ball past Hawkins for ESU’s first goal of the game.
The game featured outstanding saves from both goalkeepers.
Sophomore goalkeeper Mauri Jackson had seven saves for the Warriors and Hawkins tallied six saves for the Huskies.
Warriors head coach Rob Berkowitz said,
“We went to their place and beat them, so I think they came out a little bit hungry to start the game. They found a couple of early goals off set pieces, and it was just going to be an uphill battle for us all night.”
This year’s team is a mix of young players and some veterans who have played on conference championship teams.
“The young players are contributing. I think we are in a good spot. We are excited about moving forward and getting better,” Berkowitz said.
Freshman Erin Guilfoyle agreed with her coach’s assessment.
“It was tough. I think we definitely worked hard as a team, but I know there were some parts that we could have picked up our energy. It’s going to motivate us to keep working harder,” Guilfoyle said.
Sophomore Lynsy Gruwell is one of the young players making a strong impact on the team.
“I think we didn’t come out as strong as we needed to be, but we can definitely compete with them. We just got to get them next time,” Gruwell said.
“But we picked it up, and we got one at the end. So if we played hard like that all game, we should get another W.”
On the other hand, Bloomsberg senior Jessica Milligan was happy to beat ESU in the rematch.
“We had to come back hard, and I think we definitely did that, especially in the first half. And I think we held what we needed to in the second half. I think it was a good game,” Milligan said.
The Warriors (4-2-0, 3-2-0) will play Lock Haven (1-3-1, 1-3-0) at home on Sunday.
Email Ronald at:
rhanaki@live.esu.edu
