Article Courtesy of Sports Information Intern, Vin Rinella

SCRANTON, Pa – Sophomore Ava De Natale scored the game winning goal early in the fourth quarter as the University of Scranton Field Hockey team (4-1) defeated the Marywood Pacers (2-3) by a score of 2-1 on Wednesday night at Weiss Field in Scranton.

Just 1:42 into the fourth quarter, the Royals took their first lead of the game when De Natale redirected a ball from junior Annie Shaw into the back of the cage to give the Royals the 2-1 edge. The goal was De Natale's first of the season, which came in the first start of her Scranton career. 

Senior goalie Julie Rogel, making her second career start in goal, made two saves within seconds of each other in the first two minutes of the game, keeping the Pacers off the board. The Royals had several opportunities early, taking seven shots while earning three corners, but were unable to find paydirt in what was a scoreless first quarter.

Scranton kept up the offensive pressure to begin in the second quarter, but Marywood goalie Sabrina Frazier made one save to stave off the Royals offensive attack. The Pacers had a few good looks of their own toward the end of the quarter, but Rogel was up to the task, tallying another save and sending the game to halftime tied 0-0. 

Following a penalty corner two minutes into the third quarter, Marywood broke the ice as Dariane Jones tapped in a feed from Cassie Slusser to give Marywood the 1-0 advantage. The game remained tied until senior Lauren Franco inserted a pass to senior Reagan Dolan, who found Shaw who then poked it by Frazier for the game-tying goal late in the third quarter.

Scranton found numerous quality scoring chances throughout the fourth quarter, and nearly took the lead less than one minute into the stanza when graduate student Katie Redding unleashed a shot that was denied by Frazier. Just one minute later, De Natale scored the aforementioned game winner with 13:16 left to play in the fourth. For the rest of the quarter, the Royals controlled the ball and didn't allow the Pacers to register a single shot, holding onto the 2-1 lead for the win. 

Head coach Colleen Moyer's team held a 23-8 advantage in shots led by eight from Redding and five from Shaw. In the cage for the Royals, Rogel made four saves in the win.

Scranton is back in action on Saturday afternoon versus Stockton with action slated to begin at 1:00 p.m.

--- ROYALS ---