PITTSBURGH, Pa. - On Thursday, the No. 2 Cougars took on the No. 3 W&J Presidents in the PAC Semifinals with a trip to the PAC Championship game on the line. The game had everything one could ask for in a semifinal game, including a last second game winner. For the second season in a row a stand out Cougar freshman scored the game winning goal with less than two seconds. The Cougars won the barn burner 13-12 and will be returning to the PAC Championship Game for the second season in a row.
The game started out slow as both teams were trying not to make the first mistake. The Cougars opened with a pair of goals, the first being a free position shot by
Marcella Valentine. Not surprisingly, the Presidents fired right back with three goals of their own, taking their first lead of the night just past midway through the opening quarter. The Cougars, not to be outdone, scored a pair of goals to end the first quarter with a 4-3 lead.
In the second quarter, the Presidents flipped the script scoring three goals to open the frame. With just three minutes left in the half, the Cougars found themselves trailing by two. That was until
Bella Walski-Rodriguez scored her second goal of the night, 50th of the season, that cut the Presidents lead in half and it was closed completely by
Sofia Hoetzlein-Sirman who scored her seventh goal of the season on a free position to tie the game at halftime, 6-6.
The third quarter was rough for the Cougars despite taking an early lead on an insane
Campbell Murphy goal. The Cougars lead was short lived as the Presidents once again answered with three goals of their own.
Madison Kata pulled the Cougars back within one with 2 ½ minutes left in the third quarter as she scored her 15th goal of the season. The Presidents answered with one final goal in the quarter to take a 10-8 lead into the final quarter.
In the fourth quarter, the Cougars found the first goal to cut the lead to one in under two minutes but the equalizer proved harder to find. With the Cougars having two players sitting with cards the Presidents had a free position shot that could have taken all the momentum away from the Cougars. Luckily for the Cougars,
Meghan Cuza-Berry made an incredible save that allowed the Cougars to kill off both penalties and just a few minutes later the Cougars scored the equalizer from the stick of
Sara Kaesshaefer. That started an avalanche of Cougars goals as they scored three in 38 seconds as Walski-Rodriguez scored her third and fourth of the night to put the Cougars ahead by two with five minutes to play.Â
Just when all felt like it was going the Cougars way, the Presidents scored two more goals to tie the game and had the ball with less than two minutes to play in regulation. Cuza-Berry made a nice save to send the Cougars flying the other way looking for the game winner with less than 30 seconds remaining. Walski-Rodriguez shot was saved and the Presidents looked for their own game winner. A pass sailed high and out of bounds giving the Cougars the ball with 6.9 seconds remaining in regulation. After a timeout by the Cougars they ran their play. Hoetzlein-Sirman ran it in and looked for Kaesshaefer for the winner but the ball never found Kaesshaefer's stick. Instead it missed just off the end and sailed past the Presidents goalie just before time expired for the game winner. The Cougars swarmed the field as they punched their ticket for a rematch in the PAC Championship Game 13-12.
The Cougars were paced offensively by Walski-Rodriguez's four goals. Hoetzlein-Sirman and Murphy each had two goals and one assist as the only other Cougars with more than two points. Valentine led the team with seven ground balls and eight draw controls. Hoetzlein-Sirman also had a team high four caused turnovers. Cuza-Berry made five saves and they all seemed to come at the most impactful time as she picked up her 13th win of the season.
The Cougars will be back in action on Saturday May 2nd when they travel to Grove City for the PAC Championship Game.
