BETHLEHEM, Pa. --- Senior midfielder Catherine Duffin powered a pair of long shots into the goal on penalty corners and sophomore goalie Megan Kanyuk made eight saves for her second straight shutout as the Moravian College field hockey team posted a 2-0 win over FDU-Florham on Alumni Day and Family Day at Rocco Calvo Field Saturday afternoon.
"It was awesome today," stated Head Coach Amy Endler. "We had a great turnout of alumni and families for the afternoon, and to have shutout win makes it a great day all around."
The Greyhounds got off to a quick start in the game, drawing a penalty corner just 34 seconds into the match, and senior forward Cayley Wise was just wide of the goal with a shot in the second minute of action. Moravian also had three shots at the five minute mark after another penalty corner with Wise just missing the net, sophomore forward Erin Tiwold hitting the post and junior midfielder Rebecca Hamel having her shot blocked on its way towards the net.
Moravian kept up the pressure and would eventually score in the 25th minute off of a penalty corner. Sophomore forward Kyla Rodrigues inserted the ball to Duffin near the top of the circle, and Duffin blasted a long shot through the defense and into the left side of the cage for her fourth goal of the season.
The Devils had a penalty corner as time expired in the first half that included two shots with one being blocked and Kanyuk knocking the other one away from the goal.
Kanyuk would have to make four saves in the first seven minutes of the second half as FDU-Florham tried to tie the match. After that, the teams would go back-and-forth until the Greyhounds had another penalty corner in the 63rd minute. Once again, Rodrigues inserted the ball to start the corner with a pass to junior forward Kelly O'Donnell. O'Donnell then found Duffin, who was moving to the right, with a pass she blasted again through traffic and off the right post into the goal. For Duffin, it was her fifth goal in the last two matches and moved her into sixth in school history with 27 goals and fourth in career points with 71.
"We've been working on penalty corners, and Catherine said at halftime that it was open if we could get the good insert and get a shot off, she thought she could score," commented Endler. "She's been really working on that in practice and it showed today."
FDU-Florham put the pressure on after the goal with a penalty corner in the 65th minute that saw Kanyuk make a save and senior defender Emily Marley sprawled for a defensive save to preserve the shutout. The Devils pulled their goalie for the final 4:33 of the match for an extra attacker but Kanyuk would stop the only shot that came her way to become the ninth goalie in school history to record back-to-back shutouts.
"Megan did awesome today," Endler said. "She was aggressive, talking and moving, and I think this was probably her best game of the season so far."
Moravian will get back to action on Wednesday, September 24 in a non-conference match versus King's College starting at 4:00 p.m. at Betty Prince Field.
