KUTZTOWN, Pa. – Rachel Dusman (Chambersburg, Pa./Chambersburg) of the Kutztown University field hockey team recorded her first goal of the season in style. A defensive save on one end of the field led to a 2-on-2 breakout the other way and it ended with Dusman beating the goalie with 0:04 left in the first overtime period to take down No. 1 Shippensburg University 3-2 Saturday afternoon under rainy skies at Andre Reed Stadium in non-conference action.
 
Leigh Roselli (Romansville, Pa./Bishop Shanahan), who stepped up and played impressively in the back all game, made a defensive save to prevent an open Raiders shot. She passed ahead to Gabby Hess (Mount Joy, Pa./Donegal) streaking down the field with open turf in front of her. Hess's lead pass rolled past the outstretched stick of a Raiders defender onto the path of Dusman, who took a couple of dribbles and then blasted a shot past the goalie to send the Golden Bears (4-1 overall) to their fourth straight win and third victory against a top-ranked team in the country in as many years.
 
"It all started in the back with our defense and Leigh's great save," said Dusman. "It came out to Gabby, who carried it up the field. She made a great pass to me while I was in stride. I made one move and took the shot as hard as I could to try and beat her."
 
Roselli, along with Hadley Wiktor (Danville, Pa./Danville) and Hannah Shirk (Hamburg, Pa./Hamburg), had their hands full with the Shippensburg offense. Yes the Raiders found the back of the cage twice, the most KU has given up in a game this season, but the trio played soundly all game. Sophomore goalie Katie Dotterweich (Douglassville, Pa./Daniel Boone) made timely saves, several of which were point-blank shots.
 
"A lot of our success came from our communication, starting with Katie [Dotterweich]," said Roselli. "She was great with letting us know where to go, who to cover and just giving direction since she sees everything in front of her. We just all try to work together as one unit."
 
Kutztown went ahead 2-0 in the first quarter on goals by Alyssa Donato (Cedarville, N.J./Cumberland Regional) and Rose Moore (Phoenixville, Pa./Phoenixville), and held onto its lead through the first half. After halftime, the Raiders began to put on more pressure. They broke through 7:00 into the third quarter to cut their deficit in half.
 
The 2-1 KU advantage would last until the final 2:00 of the game when Shippensburg was awarded a penalty stroke after Dotterweich and the KU defense made several fine saves. Jazmin Petrantonio put it away to tie the game 2-2 with 1:35 left.
 
With formations changing from 11 players to seven in overtime, teams have plenty of space to work with, and Kutztown took advantage of it. Hess dribbled about 30 yards down field before she found Dusman alone in front of the cage for the one-on-one situation, which she netted her first tally of 2019.
 
Kutztown will now begin a four-game stretch on the road, beginning with a game at Millersville on Wednesday, Sept. 18, at 6 p.m.