BETHLEHEM, Pa. --- The Moravian College women's soccer team is the No. 4 seed in the 2015 Landmark Conference playoffs and is set to travel to top-seeded The Catholic University of America in a semifinal match on Wednesday, November 4 at 2:00 p.m.
This past Saturday, the Greyhounds need to win versus Drew University or a tie along with a Goucher College loss to grab the fourth seed. The Hounds started off slow versus Drew; however, that would all change at the beginning of the second half. Moravian would strike just 18 seconds into the second half, and then the Hounds grabbed another goal in the 49th minute to tie the game at 2-2. As the game progressed, both teams continued to battle back-and-forth with Drew finding the lead in the game only to have Moravian tie it back up. Drew then jumped out to a 4-3 lead in the 63rd minute of the game and it started to look bleak for the Blue and Grey. With the time winding down on the Hounds hope for taking the last playoff spot dwindling the team was able to find a fourth goal in the 88th minute to tie the game at the final score of 4-4 and force overtime. Goucher ended up losing its contest in double-overtime.
"I think we are ready for a tough match with Catholic," said Head Coach Jeff Ykoruk. "We have the second hardest strength of schedule in the Mid-Atlantic Region, and we have played seven of our 16 games against regionally or nationally ranked teams. I'm really excited for the players who deserve all the credit. They put the time and effort into our off season training and faced a challenging schedule. It's great to see all of the hard work pay off and we are excited about the next challenge which is our match on Wednesday."
Earlier in the season when the two teams met in Washington D.C., the Cardinals won the match 1-0. The Hounds took five shots in the game but couldn't find the back of the net.
The Greyhounds have six players tied with two goals apiece, senior midfielder Taylor Blake, junior forward Hannah LaFronz, sophomore defender Lauren Bertucci , sophomore forward Emily Crowley, sophomore midfielder Brittney Peter and freshman forward Alyssa Morgan. LaFronz and Morgan have also tallied one assist as well as their two goals. Tied for the team lead in assist is senior forward Brittany Nicoline and freshman forward Gabby Stelzmiller with three assists each while senior defender Melissa Pavia has added two.
In net for the Greyhounds is senior goalkeeper Jacqueline Zalis, who has recorded 66 saves on the season. Zalis has also posted a stellar 1.36 goals against average and tallied up five shutouts.
"As a recent alumnus of the program, I am over the moon excited for these girls," commented Assistant Coach Kirsten Schall '15. "After just falling short of a playoff spot last year, the girls responded by dedicating themselves to doing whatever it takes to not let that happen again this year. They put so much work in during the off season to allow them to come into preseason this year stronger athletes and to be able to see that change has been amazing. We have battled this season with a tough schedule and many injuries and it's hard to see the girls put in so much work and not get rewarded for it. This past Saturday was the reward for the countless hours the girls spent in the weight room and on the field and I could not be more proud of them."
