Red Devils Advance to NCAA Sweet Sixteen With 5-1 Win
(Carlisle, Pa.) – The 16th-ranked Dickinson College women's soccer team stormed into the third round of the NCAA Tournament with a 5-1 win over Stevens Institute of Technology on Sunday afternoon. The Red Devils advance to face #1-ranked Messiah College next weekend.
Stevens struck quickly despite a strong start for the Red Devils, including a shot inside the penalty area just minutes into the game. Senior Mary Chew (West Deptford, N.J./Gloucester Catholic) broke though to put the Ducks on the board just 4:24 into the contest.
Dickinson answered to tie the game in the 16th minute. Junior Genevieve Olson (Quincy, Mass./Thayer Academy) beat the defense on the end line and fed first-year Samantha Friday (Southborough, Mass./Algonquin Regional) to even the score, 1-1.
The Red Devils capitalized on a corner kick with just 1:39 remaining in the half. Sophomore Heather Jaran (Budd Lake, N.J./Mt. Olive) served a beautiful ball to the head of Marissa Kunkle (Perkasie, Pa./Pennridge) who Dickinson in front, 2-1. Jaran almost put one in earlier in the game with a corner off the crossbar.
Kunkle added an insurance goal 3:52 into the second half, launching a rocket from about 30 yards out into the upper right corner of the net with an assist from classmate Kim Callaghan (Armonk, N.Y./St. Luke's, Conn.)
The Devils added a pair of late goals as Olson finished a nice pass from Hannah Richardson (Chevy Chase, Md./Bethesda-Chevy Chase) with 13:17 remaining in the game. Friday tacked on the Devils' finally tally, taking a great feed from Ashley Kunkle (Perkasie, Pa./Pennridge) and beating her defender to close out the scoring with just over 10 minutes left in regulation.
Junior Kaitlin McClymont (Corpus Cristi, Texas/Flour Bluff) made some outstanding plays in the goal for Stevens, finishing with 11 saves.
Sophomore Annie Weichert (Chatham, N.J./Chatham) turned in a strong performance as well, making five saves on the day. Edie Riggs (Frederick, Md./Linganore) came on to stop a pair of shots in the final 3:31.
The Devils received strong defense play on the outside from Jaran and sophomore Ashley Fields (Far Hills, N.J./Ridge). Brena McKelvey (East Islip, N.Y./East Islip) anchored the defense in the middle and made a remarkable sliding save on the goal line with Dickinson holding a 3-1 lead.
Kathleen Schuckers played well in the midfield for the Ducks, recording five shots while Chew turned in a strong performance on defense along with Paige Allen (Manalapan, N.J./Freehold Township).
The Red Devils improve to 16-3-2 overall. They will next face #1-ranked Messiah next weekend.
