KUTZTOWN, Pa. -- Sam Graf (Wayne, N.J./Wayne Hills) became the second Kutztown University freshman midfielder to reach the 30-goal mark this season with a team-high four goals Saturday, but Millersville outscored the Golden Bears 5-1 in a pivotal third quarter and sent KU to its second straight 13-10 PSAC East defeat at Keystone Field.
Millersville opened the scoring a little over six minutes in with the first of Gillian Zimmeran's five goals on the day, but Graf didn't wait long to respond. She scored her first of two consecutive free position goals at 7:52 for her 30th of the season and gave Kutztown (4-9, 1-7 PSAC) its only lead of the day less than a minute later.
Despite the best efforts of KU goalie
Jenna Blesson (Sparta, N.J./Lenape Valley Regional), who made six of her 10 saves in the first half, the Marauders (9-5, 5-4 PSAC) netted four unanswered goals to grab a 5-2 lead with 6:32 left in the first half.
Kutztown battled back, using goals from
Lailah ElBouazzaoui (Bridgewater, N.J./Bridgewater-Raritan) (4:51),
Olivia Eilbacher (Cherry Hill, N.J./Camden Catholic) (4:04) and Graf (2:06) to even the score at five by the break. ElBouazzaoui, the Bears' other freshman 30-goal scorer, added a pair in the second half for her seventh hat trick of the season and now leads the team with 36 goals on the season.
The visiting Marauders totaled five goals from four different players during a 12-minute, 6-second span of the third quarter to go up 10-6 and make Kutztown chase the game the rest of the way.
ElBouazzaoui and Graf scored back-to-back goals in the fourth to cut Millersville's advantage in half, but Zimmerman scored her fifth a man up on a free position and Rachel Keeney found the back of the net, unassisted, to restore the Marauders' four goal lead with just 3:26 remaining.
Emma Meakim (Hatboro, Pa./Upper Moreland) (2:39) and ElBouazzaoui (0:18) closed out the scoring for KU.
Graf paced the Bears with five points (four goals, assist) and three caused turnovers. ElBouazzaoui (three goals), Eilbacher (goal, assist) and Meakim (goal, assist) had multi-point games for the hosts.
Kayla Brooks (Mountville, Pa./Hempfield) also scored a goal for the Maroon and Gold.
Defensively,
Brooke-Lynn Grim (Abbottstown, Pa./New Oxford) provided two caused turnovers and four ground balls,
Robin Spector (Northfield, N.J./Mainland Regional) a team-high five ground balls and
Emily Christiansen (Ledgewood, N.J./Roxbury) three ground balls and a caused turnover.
Cyrose Conteh (Elizabethtown, Pa./Elizabethtown) topped the Bears with four draw controls.
Millersville proved to be more opportunistic, Saturday, as the Golden Bears actually held a 33-30 advantage in shots, were more efficient on clearing attempts (15-of-16 to the Marauders' 16-of-20) and committed five fewer turnovers (19-14).
Zimmerman's five goals and seven shots on goal were both game-highs. Amanda Juliano also collected five points (two goals, three assists) and Grace Cobaugh had nearly half of Millersville's 15 draws with a game-high seven.
Marauder goalie Morgan Scott made 13 saves to earn the win.
Kutztown continues its four-game homestand Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. when it hosts nationally-ranked East Stroudsburg at Keystone Field.
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