KUTZTOWN, Pa. – Junior goalkeeper
Kayla Denlinger (Manheim, Pa./Hempfield) put together one of the best performances of her career on Saturday. She saved a potential game-tying penalty stroke and led a defensive unit that held Mercyhurst University scoreless in the second half as the Kutztown University field hockey team rose to a 3-2 come-from-behind victory in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) action at University Field.
Mercyhurst had jumped out to an early 2-1 lead in the first half, scoring both goals off of rebounds following Denlinger saves. Kutztown was able to respond and score on its first shot attempt of the game in the 23rd minute, a penalty stroke goal and a first career goal from
Morgan Aldinger (Pennsburg, Pa./Upper Perkiomen).
The Golden Bears stood their ground in the second half and used some loud motivation from the stands to push themselves forward and score the game-tying and eventual game-winning goal within three minutes of each other.
"We talked at halftime about how we didn't want to finish this game having to talk about what we needed to do better today," head coach
Marci Scheuing said. "We had to put ourselves in the mindset that we would discuss how good it felt to win this game. Our girls just came out on fire in the second half. The crowd was into it, the girls got into it, and the whole environment just changed and picked us up."
Mercyhurst was forced to play a man-down due to a yellow card just more than a minute into the second half.
Anna Behm (Kutztown, Pa./Kutztown) and the Golden Bears took advantage and tied the game at 2-2 in the 43rd minute off a pass from
Courtney Konowal (Plymouth Meeting, Pa./Plymouth-Whitemarsh).
Three minutes later in the 45th minute,
Madison Stewart (New Castle, Del./William Penn) scored off a rebound to keep the crowd on its feet and give Kutztown the lead.
From there, the KU defense was faced with a plethora of Mercyhurst offensive outbursts and penalty corners. Mercyhurst led the game in total shots, 20-10, but Denlinger and the defensive line communicated well and stymied all of the Laker chances moving forward.
Denlinger finished the game with a season-high 12 saves to improve her season record to 2-2 and her team-leading goals-against-average to 2.11.
Along with a defensive save by Fink with less than five minutes to play, one of the most significant plays of the game was on the Mercyhurst penalty stroke attempt in the 60th minute. With KU still grasping to its 3-2 lead, Denlinger read Andrea Goldbach's attempt and made a diving save to her right to keep the ball out of the cage.
"Our defense really took control whenever Mercyhurst got inside the circle," Scheuing said. "Rayann played a phenomenal game today. We call her the "Brick Wall" back there, and she stepped up big for us and came up with some important balls out there. Kayla was on-point in goal in the second half. She did a great job of being a leader, telling the defense where to go and what to do, and also made some unbelievable saves."
The Golden Bears move to 5-4 and back to .500 in PSAC action at 3-3 for a tie for fifth in the standings with East Stroudsburg. The Lakers fall to 4-5 and 2-3 in the PSAC as Kutztown now holds the very important tiebreaker over a potential contender.
"Mercyhurst is a very good team, and when this is all said and done, we could end up being tied with them for a playoff spot," Scheuing said. "This was a must-win game for us. We want to make sure that we get these wins from teams that are just as good as us so that we can hold an advantage in any tiebreaker scenario. We don't want to put ourselves in a similar situation as last year, when we played for our playoff life in the final game of the year, and that is why today's win was so important for us moving forward."
The Golden Bears remain home and return to action for non-conference play on Friday, Oct. 10 against Limestone College beginning at 4 p.m. KU defeated the Saints 3-0 last year at University Field.
