Katie O'Hanlon	Courtney O'Kane	Kelsey O'Kane	Ellen Walker
Sarah Walker	Hannah DeMars	Gianna Vitolo	Carolyn Warner

Photo gallery (courtesy of Emma Black)

Photo gallery (courtesy of Dan Ceccacci)

The University of Scranton women's soccer team raced out to a quick two-goal lead, but Elizabethtown used a strong second-half surge to down the Royals, 4-3, on Senior Day in the Landmark Conference regular season finale on Saturday at Fitzpatrick Field.

Scranton (9-7-2, 4-2-1 Landmark) will be the No. 3 seed in next week's Landmark Conference playoffs and will visit second-seeded Elizabethtown (13-3-0, 6-1-0 Landmark) in a semifinal match on Wednesday at 6 p.m.

With the chance to secure a home game in that semifinal with a victory, the Royals took two big steps in that direction in the opening 22 minutes thanks to the right foot of junior forward Sarah Andrews (Mountain Top, Pa./Crestwood).

Andrews gave the Royals a quick lead when she picked up a loose ball on the left side of the box and dribbled in for a breakaway before ripping a 10-yard shot low into the right corner just 3:13 into the match.

In the 22nd minute, junior forward Gianna Vitolo (Denville, N.J./Morris Knolls) threaded a long pass between defenders and Andrews beat the Elizabethtown goalie to the ball and calmly scored into an empty net from 12 yards out for her second goal of the match and fifth of the season.

But the Blue Jays didn't back down, cutting the lead in half with a goal in the 30th minute. After Scranton held the 2-1 lead at halftime, Elizabethtown wasted almost no time tying things up in the second half with a goal in the 47th minute.

Elizabethtown took the lead with a third goal in the 70th minute, then added an insurance goal it would end up needing in the 88th minute. That goal proved pivotal when Royals freshman midfielder Hannah DeMars (Cranford, N.J./Cranford) scored with 3.8 seconds to play on an assist from senior forward Kelsey O'Kane (Springfield, Pa./Cardinal O'Hara).

The Blue Jays held an 11-8 advantage in shots and 5-3 in corner kicks. Andrews, senior midfielder Ellen Walker (Bethlehem, Pa./Liberty) and sophomore midfielder Carolyn Warner (Morris Plains, N.J./Parsippany Hills) had two shots each for Scranton.

Prior to kickoff, the Royals honored four seniors – Walker, Kelsey O'Kane, midfielder Katie O'Hanlon (Rockville Centre, N.Y./Sacred Heart Academy) and Courtney O'Kane (Springfield, Pa./Cardinal O'Hara), who was a three-year letter-winner before an injury cut her career short.

--ROYALS--