SUNY Fredonia goalkeeper Becky Scroger made eight saves during the match and three more in the shootout as SUNY Fredonia defeated the University of Rochester, 1-0, in the Eastern College Athletic Conference playoffs at Edwin Fauver Stadium.
With the victory, Fredonia advances to the semifinals scheduled for SUNY Brockport on Saturday. The Blue Devils were the torunament's seventh seed. They improved their record to 9-7-3 overall. Second seeded Rochester finished at 10-6-3.
Rochester outshot Fredonia, 16-4 in the first 90 minutes and the two sudden-death overtimes. Scroger stopped two breakaways, then made one of her best saves less than a minute into the first overtime. Rochester freshman Bridgette Varin (Wheatland-Chili) broke through and hit a hard liner for the low right corner. Scroger sprawled to her left, batted the ball down, ans hastily covered the rebound.
Fifteen minutes into the match, Varin sent Tammy Brewster in alone. Scroger took the ball away as Brewster tried to circle wide left for a shot at an open net. With less than six minutes left in the first half, Varin's through ball put Eileen Boylan into the box. Boylan cut wide right of Scroger's dive. Her shot at an open net from a deep angle on the right flicked off the right post and over the line for a goal kick.
Fredonia had chances at the other end of the field. Ten minutes into the second half, Gwen Curtis' corner kick out of the right corner was punched out from under the bar by Molly Leitch. The ball went to the back post and was played back into the middle, but Rochester's Lindsay Rood cleared it before an attacker could get there.
Midway through the period, a long ball from Danielle Bleecker went over the defense, ticketed for Lauren Heilweil. She would have been through along, but Leitch got there first to knock it away. With less than six minutes left, Heilweil broke free on the right. She fired for the low left corner. Leitch rushed off the line and palmed it wide, sending the ball into the center of the box where Kaleight Vogan rushed in and hammered the rebound over the bar.
When neither side could break through in overtime, the game went to the shootout. Rochester shot first. Ashley VanVechten scored to the low right corner. Amber Balseca evened it, scoring to the low right. Ali Streeter's shot was saved by Scroger, meant for the lower left. Maggie McEntee scored to the low left, giving Fredonia a 2-1 lead. Brewster tied it for Rochester on round three with a shot to the low right. It stayed at 2-2 after three rounds because Jacki Borcyk hit the left post. Varin kicked one off the left post and in on round four. Danielle Bleecker's shot for Fredonia was saved by Leitch, putting the Yellowjackets ahead, 3-2.
Scroger saved Erin Carballo's shot for the low right corner, then Christa Morgante scored to the low left for Fredonia, tying the score at 3-3. On round six, Scroger stopped Erin Morgan's shot aimed for the right. Mimi Blackman scored the winning goal, hitting it to the low right.
