Cardinals down Goucher 2-1 for first conference win

TOWSON, Md. – The No. 13 CUA field hockey team earned its first Landmark Conference win of the season on Tuesday evening with a 2-1 win over Goucher on the road.  The Cardinals used two second half scores to down the Gophers, including Kendall Petschauer's game-winner in the 63rd minute.

The Cardinals out shot their counterparts 16-4 on the night and received 16 penalty corners to only five for the Gophers.  Goucher goalkeeper Micki Manheimer stopped eight shots for the home team, while CUA goalkeeper Krystyanna Ramsdell earned her ninth win of the season.

"We stayed composed tonight, we were very energetic and I thought our passing was real crisp," CUA head coach Gia Cillizza said afterwards.  "Goucher played a very nice game.  They made things difficult for us, but we were able to capitalize on our opportunities and it feels great to get our first conference win."

She continued, "I told the girls afterwards that you can be playing well, but sometimes you just can't get a goal.  The thing is, you can't let down defensively and I thought tonight we didn't let down on the defensive end.  We played smart and came away with a good win."  

CUA got right to work attacking on the offensive end as Meredith Chandler took a shot just 1:11 into the game, but Manheimer stopped it.  The Cardinals continued to stay aggressive with two more shots in the next three minutes, but one went wide and the other was blocked.

Shots by Emma Dixon and Mary Swarthout near the midway point of the half were both saved by Manheimer, but CUA did not relent.  The Cardinals took three more shots and were awarded five penalty corners as the half moved along, but Goucher's defense was up to the challenge as it kept CUA off the scoreboard.  The teams went into halftime tied at zero.

12 minutes into the second stanza, CUA struck for its first goal when Swarthout took a feed from Tory Gagliardi following a scrum in front of the cage, and scored her team-leading tenth goal to give the Cardinals a 1-0 lead.

From there Goucher went searching for the equalizer and the Gophers got it when Catherine Armao scored on an assist from Angela Buxton to tie things at one at the 54:59 mark.  The score came off a penalty corner and set up an exciting final 15 minutes.

Petschauer's shot at the 57:45 mark was wide for CUA, but five minutes after that she scored the eventual game-winner off a penalty corner by the Cardinals.  Gagliardi registered her second assist on the play as Petschauer slipped her shot past Manheimer for a 2-1 CUA lead with under eight to play.

That proved to be not only the last goal, but also the last shot of the night as CUA earned a hard-fought road win.

CUA will return to action on Saturday when the Cardinals play host to Juniata inside Cardinal Stadium.  Game time is set for 1:00.  Cillizza looked ahead to the matchup this weekend.  "We have to continue to stay sharp and be smart about the way we do things.  We're going to have to play very hard and very smart on Saturday against a talented Juniata team."