Trinity Women's Soccer Downs Elizabethtown In NCAA Tourney Opener
Dallas, Pa. - The Trinity College women's soccer team made good on its first-ever appearance in NCAA Division III Championship play with a 2-1 victory over the Elizabethtown College Bluejays at Misericordia University's Mangelsdorf Field this afternoon. Sophomore Alexa Menard (Wallingford, Conn.) and first-year Rachel Zanko (Grand Rapids, Mich.) scored the first two goals of the game, and Trinity held off a late Bluejay rally to improve to a best-ever 13-4 and advance to the second round. Trinity will play the host Misericordia University Cougars tomorrow at 1:30 p.m. with the winner advancing to the Round of 16 next weekend.
"Overall, it was a really great effort," said Trinity Head Coach Michael Smith. "There were some near misses early, and we kept reminding the players what they are capable of when Elizabethtown started putting pressure on us. We executed the way we know we can in the second half, and capitalized on our chances. We got a little nervous again at the end, but we persevered got the win."
Trinity had the majority of the early scoring chances, as junior forward Karyn Barrett (Cape Elizabeth, Maine) hit the cross bar with a hard shot in the 15th minute, and Menard had a shot blocked by a Bluejay defender one-on-one in the box in the 29th minute. Junior tri-captain midfielder Elisa Dolan (Bethesda, Md.) blasted a shot from close in the 33rd minute that deflected back off a defender's head. Freshman forward Callie McClanahan (Hurricane, W.V.) shot just wide in the 37th minute for the closest Bluejay chance of the first half.
At 55:35, Trinity sophomore forward Abbey Lake (Wesport, Conn.) sent a nice ball ahead of the Elizabethtown defense that was chased down by Menard and blasted just hard enough to get through the hands of Bluejay sophomore goalkeeper Dana Robidoux (Kennett Square, Pa.) for the first goal of the contest. Menard nearly tallied a moments later, but Robidoux dove to her left for a save, and an apparent goal by Barrett shortly after that was negated on an offsides call.
Trinity continued to apply offensive pressure, as Dolan missed just high on a direct kick from the top left corner of the box after Zanko was fouled by Robidoux on a run. After McClanahan missed just high on a breakaway for Elizabethtown, Bantam junior midfielder Natalie Salmon (Yarmouth, Maine) shot just over the cross bar from the left wing after a nifty pass by Lake. Zanko gave Trinity a 2-0 lead when she fought hard to collect a lofted pass by junior back Maggie Crowe (Lowell, Mass.) after a Bluejay foul just over midfield, and quickly put the ball past Robidoux with 18:44 left in regulation.
The Bluejays did not quit, as McClanahan missed high on a decent look from 18 yards away, and finally got on the board when senior forward Alissa Koplin (Rahway, N.J.) scored from sophomore forward Deanna Slater (Elizabethtown, Pa.) on a shot from close on the right side at 87:29. Tense moments followed for Trinity, as a McClanahan header from the right wing sailed wide left and her final shot in the closing seconds bounced wide right before time expired. Trinity finished with a 20-13 shooting edge, while sophomore goalie Monica DiFiori made one save and Robidoux had five.
