SCRANTON, Pa. – Junior Samantha Goffice (Gilbertsville, Pa./Boyertown Area) opened the scoring just 1:17 into the game and The top-seeded University of Scranton women's soccer team (12-3-3) never looked back in a dominant 5-1 victory over the No. 5 seed Elizabethtown Blue Jays (6-9-3) in Landmark semifinal action on Thursday night at Weiss Field in Scranton.
With the victory, the Royals advance to Saturday's Landmark Championship game and will host No. 2 seed Catholic at 1 p.m. at Weiss Field. Catholic was a 1-0 overtime winner versus No. 3 seed Drew on Thursday.
In the second minute, senior Niamh Healy (Orangeburg, N.Y./Tappan Zee) played a ball down the wing to Goffice who cut in to the 18-yard box and fired a shot past Blue Jays' goalie Adrienne McGallicher for her second goal of the season and a 1-0 lead. Scranton was quickly able to extend the lead in the 13th minute when senior Mary Haggerty (Garden City, N.Y./Garden City) delivered a corner into the box and Healy headed it into the top left corner to make it 2-0. Healy struck again in the 24th minute as she ripped a shot from 30 yards out and buried the chance for her team and conference-leading 17th goal of the season. The Royals held the Blue Jays without a shot in the first 45 minutes and took the 3-0 lead into the locker room.
The Royals continued to threaten offensively for much of the second half, but McGallicher made a trio of saves in the first 15 minutes of the half that kept things at 3-0 for the time being. In the 73rd minute, freshman Jenna Borelli (East Islip, N.Y./East Islip) sent a pass to sophomore Morgan Griffin (Sea Cliff, N.Y./North Shore) who found the back of the net with a shot to the near post to make it a 4-0 game. ETown was able to get a goal back with a shot from Maddie McWhinney in the 83rd minute, but Scranton quickly answered in the 89th minute as sophomore Dani Orecchio (Bridgewater, N.J./Bridgewater-Raritan) got in behind the defense and keeper and converted her first goal of the season.
Griffin has now scored in consecutive games for the Royals.
Scranton held a 19-5 edge in shots behind seven from Healy and junior goalie Nicole Olson (Stoughton, Mass./Ursuline Academy) tallied one save in 80 plus minutes of scoreless action.
McGallicher made six saves in the setback for ETown.
A full preview of Saturday's game will be posted on Friday at athletics.scranton.edu.
--ROYALS--
