There’s always more than one side to a story and if you watched the Shippensburg versus Kutztown college field hockey game Tuesday, several storylines emerged once the game had ended.
Shippensburg won 3-2 on its one and only attack penalty corner throughout the 60-minute contest. There were 39.4 seconds remaining in regulation.
Shippensburg and Kutztown started the game unbeaten in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC). But, only the Raiders walked away still 5-0. The Golden Bears are now 4-1.
“It’s heartbreaking because I do think we played well enough to win, but with Ship…it took them up until the last minute to get that goal in,” Kutztown head coach Marci Scheuing said after the game.
We’re tied at 1 apiece at halftime. pic.twitter.com/LYamCONw9B
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Another storyline, which can’t be ignored, is that the No. 1 and No. 2 ranked teams in Division II study the others playbook. The first time they met in the 2024 Fall season, Kutztown dropped the contest 2-0.
The Bears came back and are the first team this season to crack the cage twice. Ship has a phenom in cage – Emma Albee – who has only allowed five goals total all season throughout her playing time. So, in one game, Kutztown accomplished more than every team on Ship’s schedule has been able to achieve this season.
Teams that scored against her were only able to get in one.
“We made so many adjustments in our press and different things from the first time we saw them, and I think we executed really well,” Scheuing said. “We just need to make bigger shots on the defensive side when it’s important and when it’s kind of crunch time. And, we need to make sure we’re disciplined in our 1 v 1 defense.”
In under one minute, Ship’s Agus Garibaldi eliminated two defenders and passed the ball into the Raiders attack circle. Alexa Michielsen ran onto it and sent a lifted shot into the cage.
The goal snapped Kutztown into action. The Bears took control for the next two quarters, scoring in both on corners. The first goal was scored on the second of consecutive corners at the end of the second quarter with no time left on the clock.
Kutztown’s Sarah Gatehouse sent the ball to the far post, where Jessica Traynor finished. The halftime score was 1-1.
The Bears upped their defense in the third. They held Shippensburg out of its defensive circle by intercepting and reading where the Raiders were running off ball. Marking was tight in the circle. It became a contest of who stepped faster to the ball once it was within scoring position.
Kutztown was able to enter the circle several times in the third. And, again knocked one in off post on an attack penalty corner. The corner insert wasn’t smooth, but the Bears rallied to collect the ball, pass wide of far post, which forced Albee to protect the post closest to her.
The pass was Gatehouse to Marissa Rice to Juliana Donato, who then passed the ball to Albee’s right post, where Brinley Rex cleaned up the corner by punching it in. It was Rex’s first goal of the season.
Kutztown finishes 2-1
2:50 left in third pic.twitter.com/Vuctz1Qs2R
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The Bears were up 2-1.
Ashley Button helped to find the equalizer in the fourth on a gritty field goal. Ship entered the circle from the left, passed to stroke, where Button was among three Ship players to get a touch on the ball. Button got her stick on it and took one step toward cage, where she powered it in.
Ship ties it up 2-2 9:57
Excellent hockey pic.twitter.com/RWyRCoIoi0
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When it came down to the wire, it was the duo of Button and Garibaldi, who were thrown into the spotlight of the final minute of the game. Ship’s team came up with the goal after digging deep to reignite the team’s initial offensive the momentum.
Button passed into the circle, where Garibaldi hovered near the stroke mark, did a 3D lift, and enough of one to smash the ball over her shoulder into the net for the 3-2 win.
Insane shot.
Ship 3-2
39.4 seconds pic.twitter.com/qfzsnPIn5X
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Button’s stats included one goal and two assists. Garibaldi scored her 13 goal of the season and her fourth game-winner.
Both keepers staved off powerful offenses. Albee had two saves for Ship, and Mia Kepler had one for Kutztown. There were eight combined shots between the teams. Five converted to goals.
“I do feel like we’re sort of on a hot streak right now,” Scheuing said. “I know we lost, but it’s the No. 1 team in the country and we took them to the brink. We’re playing some of our best hockey right now, so I feel like that’s great going into the postseason.”
She added: “They’re fast. We knew that going in. The adjustments were good, but they weren’t enough. So, now we’ll go back to the film and figure out what we could do differently. We gave up one penalty corner to Ship, which is crazy. They average a lot of penalty corners a game. I thought defensively we were sound, but you can’t let up on Ship, because they’re going to come right back ‘atcha.”
Ship’s head coach Tara Zollinger said there were great moments, and not so great moments. Scoring first and last was good, but its offense being held to the lowest number of penalty corners all season is kryptonite for the Raiders.
“I think we definitely got that early energy but I think we let off the gas a little bit,” she said. “I would have loved to have seen us hold on to that energy a little bit more. [Kutztown] capitalized on that. They had a really good second quarter and third quarter. That put us in a really bad position. Being able to come back and find an equalizer against a rival is huge anytime. And, it’s really difficult to do that against a tough team. They’re such a tough team to break through defensively. And, they’re just so structured and disciplined. Really proud of the efforts up front. Ashely Button did a great job of creating the second and third goals. It’s exciting to get a game like this under our belt as we look toward the end of our regular season and prepare for the postseason.”
Shippensburg plays Slipper Rock today, and Kutztown plays Mansfield.
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Photo: Kutztown at Shippensburg 2024, Bob Benscoter
By FAN – US
