Gumowski Penalty Shootout Goal Leads Field Hockey to 3-2 Win Over Dowling
Box Score DOBBS FERRY, N.Y. (Sept. 23, 2015) – Sophomore Rachel Gumowski (Lindenhurst, N.Y./Lindenhurst) scored the lone goal in a penalty shootout as the Mercy College field hockey team earned a 3-2 win over Dowling College on Wednesday afternoon at Mercy Field.
The Mavericks (3-3) have now won three in a row for the first time since 2013, while the Golden Lions (1-5) have now dropped two in a row.
Scoring in the contest for Mercy was junior Jackie Ballin (Cupertino, Calif./Cupertino) who recorded her team-leading fifth of the year, while freshman Micaela Belz (San Diego, Calif./Mount Carmel) picked up her second of the season. Junior Vanessa Soler (Port Monmouth, N.J./Middletown North) ended the contest with an assist and freshman Julia Amell (Greene, N.Y./Greene) made 12 saves in net to earn the win.
Dowling was led by Zoe Norton and Amanda DeGennaro who each tallied goals, while goalkeeper Ariana Ovadia made seven saves to earn the loss.
In a contest that was tightly contested throughout, the Golden Lions broke through with the game's first goal in the 14th minute as DeGennaro fired a shot past Amell, off a rebound, to give the visitors an early 1-0 lead.
Belz evened things up in the 23rd minute as she took a feed from Soler and fired the ball into the cage to make it 1-1.
Ballin gave the Mavericks their first lead of the contest at the 32-minute mark as she took the ball following a Giana Magosin (Atlantic City, N.J./Egg Harbor Township) penalty corner and maneuvered through the defense before slotting it past Ovadia to make it 2-1 in favor of Mercy heading into the intermission.
Dowling held a 10-5 edge in shots at the break and a 5-3 advantage in penalty corners.
The second stanza saw Norton find the equalizer for the Golden Lions in the 51st minute off a cross from Elizabeth Athing to make it 2-2.
However, neither team could find the winning goal in regulation as fatigue started to play a factor later in the contest and overtime would be needed.
The first overtime period saw Amell step up and make four crucial saves as Dowling looked to put the game away. Neither team was able to score in the first 15 minutes of action, despite 11 shots in the period between the two teams, and a second 15 minutes was required.
Fatigue settled in further in the second overtime as the two teams combined for only three shots with limited scoring opportunities so a penalty shootout was needed in order to decide the outcome.
The shootout saw the goalkeepers step up and keep the opposition off the board until Gumowski took her position as the third Maverick up. Gumowski flipped one over Ovadia's head and touched it in to give Mercy a 1-0 lead in the shootout. Amell responded by keeping the Golden Lions off the board on their next two tries and the Mavericks would come away with another dramatic victory.
Dowling ended the day with a 26-13 edge in shots and a 19-9 margin in penalty corners.
Head Coach Kayte Kinsley and the Mavericks will look to make it four straight as they host Newberry on Saturday, September 26th at 1 p.m.
