MEADVILLE, Pa. – For the second consecutive game, Allegheny came back from a late deficit to win on a
Jessie Thiessen goal, as the Gators topped visiting Fredonia 2-1 at a sun baked Robertson Athletic Complex.
The Gators (2-3-1) controlled possession for most of the game, out-shooting the Blue Devils 25-13, but after Fredonia (2-5) scored first, it was Thiessen's two strikes - in the 52nd and 89th minutes - that propelled Allegheny to its second straight win.
Allegheny also owned a commanding 6-1 edge in corner kicks, while senior
Colleen Fleming made four saves in goal to earn her second win of the season.
Play was wide open throughout the majority of the first half, with plenty of back-and-forth action. Though Allegheny tallied the first four shots of the match, and six of the first seven, Fredonia advanced the ball deep into Gator territory, only to be thwarted by the Allegheny back line.
Allegheny had its first prime scoring opportunity in the 24th minute, as a corner kick led to a pair of blocked shots up close, before Fredonia defender Sarah Lindovski scrambled to make a lunging save of a
Sarah Sherwood shot from six yards out to keep the game scoreless.
Just three minutes later, the tide quickly turned, as an Allegheny foul gave the Blue Devils a free kick from 20 yards out. Lindosvki sent an arching ball onto the doorstep, where the head of a leaping Audrey Prokopovich directed it into the back of the net to put the visitors up 1-0 with 13 minutes left in the half.
The Gators looked to counter, but Fredonia keeper Kendall Owczarzak made three saves in an eight-minute span to preserve the lead heading into the final stages of the first half. Fleming then gobbled up a pair of Fredonia attempts over the final 100 seconds of the opening stanza, and the half ended with the Blue Devils maintaining the one-goal lead.
Allegheny didn't wait long following the intermission to even the score. After their fourth corner kick of the match, the Gators maintained possession, with
Isabella Martinez controlling the ball on the sideline 30 yards out. She lofted an entry attempt right to the doorstep, and Thiessen out-leaped the defense to head it past Owczarzak to the far post and into the net
(pictured above) for her third goal of the season to tie it at 1-all.
The equalizer seemed to give Allegheny some extra pep, as the team's offense continued to maintain long possessions, and tallied four more shots and another corner kick in the ensuing 10 minutes following Thiessen's score, but came up empty.
Fredonia countered with a trio of long trips into Gator territory, but the Allegheny midfield and defense corps managed to force the Blue Devils to settle a quartet of long range shots between the 77th and 83rd minutes, all of which went wide of the mark.
After the fourth Fredonia attempt went out of bounds, the Gators quickly advanced into the Fredonia end off of Fleming's goal kick. With 3:30 left, Owczarzak stopped a straight-on blast from
Sarah Sherwood from 12 yards out, but the Gators kept the heat on.
With a shade over two minutes left, Thiessen gathered a loose ball near the sideline, and diced around a pair of Fredonia defenders. She then sent a blast to just inside the near post, past a sprawling Owczarzak and into the goal to give the Gators the 2-1 lead with 1:56 remaining. It was the second consecutive two-goal game for Thiessen, who similarly scored the game-tying goal in the 89th minute and the game-winner in the 106th three days earlier in a 3-2 win at Pitt-Bradford.
Fredonia mounted one last comeback attempt, gaining a corner with 51 seconds left, but the ensuing header went off the mark, and the Gators were able to dribble out the clock.
Five different Gators tallied at least two shots on the day, led by six from Thiessen and four apiece by Sherwood and
Hannah Eisemann. Owczarzak finished with eight saves in the cage for Fredonia.
After a five-day respite, the Gators will take their two-game winning streak to Pittsburgh, as they face #21 Carnegie Mellon in a Sunday matinee beginning at 3 p.m.
