La Plume, Pa. – Keystone College scored three goal in the final 15:49 on Wednesday afternoon to rally for a crucial, 3-1 victory over visiting Rosemont College in Colonial States Athletic Conference women's soccer action.
Hannah Richner (Nicholson, Pa./Mountain View) scored two goals and added an assist to help the Giants improve to 7-6-1 overall and 4-4-1 in conference play.
Keystone currently sits seventh in the CSAC standings, three points behind Neumann University for the final conference playoff slot. The Giants host the Knights in an all-important conference showdown on Saturday night in La Plume.
Keystone nearly went ahead in the 26
th minute when
Hannah Richner (Nicholson, Pa./Mountain View) played
Cassie Ehrhart (Stamford, N.Y./Stamford Central) thru on a breakaway, but Rosemont goalkeeper Jenna Kaiser dove to her left and just got a hand on Ehrhart's shot to keep the game scoreless. The Giants had another good chance with 10 minutes remaining in the first half when Ehrhart played a ball over the top to
Amber Smith (Willingboro, N.J./Willingboro), but the freshman's shot when just over the crossbar.
The game remained scoreless at halftime with Keystone holding an 11-6 advantage in shots over the first 45 minutes of play. The Giants also held a 4-3 edge in shots on goal, but four saves by Kaiser and three stops by Keystone's
Sarah Heintz (Glenside, Pa./Abington) kept the score-line level at 0-0 at the break.
Rosemont (3-12, 3-6 CSAC) broke the tie just over nine and half minutes into the second half, taking a 1-0 lead on Melissa Lynch's second goal of the season. Lynch collected a pass and had her first attempt blocked before picking up the rebounding and scoring the game's first goal from close range.
Keystone leveled the contest at 1-1 in the 75
th minute.
Nina Carbonaro (Middlesex, N.J./Middlesex) collected a ball in the middle of the field and fed a pass forward to
Hannah Richner (Nicholson, Pa./Mountain View), who launched a 25-yard shot the tucked over Kaiser's head and underneath the crossbar.
With overtime looming, Richner gave the Giants their first lead of the game with just 4:26 left in regulation by stealing a ball off of a Ravens' defender and beating Kaiser with a shot just inside the right post from the top of the box. The freshman's tally was fifth of the fall, tying her for the team-lead.
Ehrhart closed out the scoring just 49 seconds later, running onto a thru-ball from Richner and beating Kaiser to the near post for her second goal of the year.
Heintz picked up the in win in Keystone's net after finishing the contest with six saves while Kaiser made 16 stops in the loss for Rosemont.
Keystone held a 31-16 advantage in shots for the game along with a 19-7 lead in shots on goal. The Giants also generated five corner kick chances to just one for the Ravens.
Keystone will host Neumann in a critical CSAC contest on Saturday evening. Opening kickoff between the Giants and Knights is set for 5:30 p.m. on the turf field in La Plume.