The No. 8 nationally ranked Rowan field hockey team defeated the Stevens Institute of Technology Ducks on Wednesday, Sept. 14 by a final score of 4-2 at Coach Richard Wacker Stadium, securing their third win of the season.
For the Profs, this was a much needed bounce back win after they fell to the No. 2 nationally ranked Johns Hopkins University Blue Jays last Saturday, Sept. 9 by a final score of 2-0.
Rowan got the scoring started quickly in this one, with sophomore Amber Powell breaking the scoreless tie just 3:13 into the first quarter with her first goal of the season, giving the Profs a 1-0 lead.
Junior Vanessa DiDonato extended the Profs’ lead just over four minutes later with her second goal of the season, and sophomore Kaylee Wenzel joined the party with just over a minute remaining in the first quarter with her second goal of the season to give Rowan a three-goal lead after one.
Going into halftime facing a 3-0 deficit, the Ducks sparked a comeback and made things interesting in the second half, scoring two goals and cutting the Profs’ lead to one. Powell responded with her second goal of the game assisted by sophomore Sidney Pavlishin with 33 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter to seal the 4-2 win.
For Powell, her multi-goal game felt like a “welcome back” moment after missing a significant amount of playing time last season due to injury.
“I definitely feel great,” Powell said. “I did not play as much [last year] because I was hurt; definitely feeling great to be back and better than ever.”
With the Profs only having a one-goal lead late in the fourth quarter, Head Coach Michelle Andre needed to adjust the team’s game-plan. Coach Andre talked about how they needed to become more “attack-oriented” in crunch time.
“I think going into the third quarter, we were on our heels, we were letting them drift and get space,” Coach Andre said. “I would say in the fourth quarter, we got more attack-oriented. We controlled the whole mid-field in the first half, but for the first part of the second half, we did not control the field. But they turned it around in the fourth quarter. I mean, Stevens came back to life to comeback and finish with that goal in the end.”
The Profs are looking forward to getting back on the field on Saturday, Sept. 16 after experiencing a couple bumps in the road against Stevens.
“I feel so excited, so pumped, so ready to go for Saturday’s game,” Powell said. “I had my head up throughout the whole game. Even though we had two goals scored on us in the fourth quarter, we came back and fought for another.”
Following Wednesday’s win, Rowan has the energy and confidence to win their second consecutive game when the Arcadia University Knights come to town on Saturday.
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