Senior Day Success for Women’s Soccer
By Jen Brown
The Catholic University of America women’s soccer team defeated Landmark opponent Drew this past Saturday, October 21st, by a score of 6-1. The conference victory brings the team’s record to 10-6 overall, and 4-2 in conference.This game was also dedicated to the five departing seniors, Ally Marcello, Andrea Jablonskyj, Kate Thompson, Alexa Povelaitis, and Riley Hawblitzel. The seniors were honored prior to the match, their last at the CUA Athletic Complex.
The game began with Catholic scoring the first goal by freshman Maggie Moorcones, who has a total of five goals this season for Catholic. Soon after Moorcones’ goal, sophomore Elizabeth Johnson was chasing down a pass deep in Drew territory. Her efforts forced the keeper to challenge the play and she managed to draw a penalty in the box on the tackle. Johnson drilled home her first of the game on the resulting penalty kick giving Catholic a 2-0 lead.
The Rangers came out strong early in the second half, but senior Andrea Jablonskyj took control over the ball, scoring again for Catholic. Right after Jablonskyj’s goal, Moorcones scored her second goal of the game bringing Catholic to a 4-0 lead. Later on in the game, Drew finally put themselves on the board but was scored on again, this time by freshman Meghan Corso.
With seconds counting down on the clock, sophomore Grace Boras took the ball down the pitch and fed Johnson the ball to score her second and the last goal for Catholic with only 4 seconds remaining.
The five seniors have had a great four years playing together. In the four years, midfielder Jablonskyj has scored a total of twelve goals with fourteen assists. Two of those goals were game-winners. Midfielder Povelaitis has scored a total of seven goals with seven assists in her college career. Defenseman Thompson has had one assist on goal. She has also been on Landmark Conference Honor Roll for two straight seasons. Defenseman Hawblitzel has had a total of two goals with two assists in her past four years. She is another player on the Landmark Conference Honor Roll. Goalkeeper Marcello has saved a total of 20 attempts during her four years at Catholic, and the blowout was her 6th win on the season.
Catholic is currently in third place in the Landmark Conference standings but they have clinched a spot in the post season playoffs. They will travel to Susquehanna on Wednesday, November 1 for the Landmark Semifinals. Prior to this matchup, the team will play one last game on Saturday, October 28th at the University of Scranton.