Oct. 28, 2006

Stats

Erie, Pa. - The Gannon women's soccer team did everything it could to play the role of spoiler, but Mercyhurst fought back from a two-goal second half deficit for a 4-3 victory Saturday. The win gave Mercyhurst a share of the GLIAC Championship as the Lakers tied Grand Valley State at 7-1 in conference play.

With the GLIAC title, as well as a trip to the NCAA National Championships, on the line, Mercyhurst struggled out of the gate and a feisty Gannon squad made the Lakers pay with two goals in the first 12 minutes.

Mercyhurst finally got its offense rolling in the second half behind the timely scoring of Jacque Sluga. The junior scored her third goal of the season in the 58th minute to cut the deficit to just one goal. Seeing that they had their opponent on its heels, the Lakers continued to pressure the Gannon defense.

Lisa Casement tied the game about nine minutes later on an assist from Kelly Minnich. Then Sarah Powell put the Lakers ahead in the 77th minute. Casement's second goal of the contest became a critical insurance goal less than a minute later.

Gannon tried to get back into the contest as the Golden Knights' Heather Patterson scored her second goal of the contest with less than eight minutes to play. But Mercyhurst did not allow the Golden Knights to get the goal that would have evened the match.

For the game, Mercyhurst held a 22-9 advantage in shots, including 12-5 on goal.

With the victory, the Mercyhurst athletic department picked up its second GLIAC Championship of the year, along with men's soccer, and is one of only two schools in the conference with multiple titles in the fall.

The women's soccer team is now 16-3 overall and will look ahead towards the NCAA National Championships. The selection of the 32 teams will take place Monday and first round games are scheduled to take place November 2.