MERION STATION, Pa. – Emily Nonnemacher's first goal of the season came at just the right time for the Saint Joseph's field hockey team as the junior midfielder provided all of the offense in a tense, 1-0 victory over crosstown rival Drexel at Ellen Ryan Field on Friday afternoon.

“Drexel has always been a great rivalry for us,” Nonnemacher said.  “We felt the momentum on our side the whole game.  We were stepping up to balls and creating opportunities, and it was great to be able to capitalize on that.”

Saint Joseph's (2-1) earned a penalty corner late in the second half to set up the scoring opportunity.  Nonnemacher inserted to freshman Monica Tice, who teed up a shot that was saved by the Dragons' Ainslie Rhoads.  The rebound skipped into the air for Nonnemacher, who swatted it into the cage with 7:17 to play for the game's lone score.

“Emily invested extra time this week to step up to the inserting role,” said head coach Lynn Farquhar.  “She focused on a couple things, and it was cool to see that she was the one to put the ball in the net as kind of a reward for all of that extra work.”

Rhoads finished the game with four saves for Drexel (0-3), while junior Amelia Deibler made two to preserve the clean sheet for the Hawks.  SJU outshot the Dragons, 10-5, and enjoyed a 6-3 advantage in penalty corners as well.

“It was really exciting to come out today,” Farquhar said.  “The game against Maryland [on Sunday] taught us a lot, and we put things into action.  We had a game plan and we worked on some of the things that we got exposed on against Maryland, and we fixed them here.  Our motto has been to improve every day.”

The Hawks will take on their second consecutive local rival when they head to Temple on Monday afternoon.  Game time is set for 3:00 p.m.