Box Score MERION STATION, Pa. – Junior forward Jackalyn Pauling found the back of the cage with 12.9 seconds remaining in the second half to give the Saint Joseph's field hockey team a thrilling 4-3 come-from-behind victory over Richmond at Ellen Ryan Field on Friday afternoon.
“It was an exciting game, and I'm proud of our group,” head coach Lynn Farquhar said after the game. “We knew it was going to be a tough game, so the goal was to stay in it and find a way to pull out a win, and we did it with 12 seconds left.”
The teams emerged from halftime deadlocked at two, but the Hawks nearly took the lead in the opening minutes of the second half. Pauling and senior forward Kerri Turk both hit the post before sophomore forward Anna Willocks had an effort blocked on a penalty corner.
Richmond (4-6 overall, 2-2 Atlantic 10) found its footing soon after, forcing freshman goalkeeper Victoria Kammerinke into a pair of saves before Olivia Hubert redirected a shot on a corner attempt to put the Spiders on top with 23:15 to play.
The lead would be short-lived, however, as Willocks answered two minutes later. After dribbling into the top of the circle, the league's leading scorer fired a rocket past UR's Amanda Hoyt to tie the game and notch her 15th goal of the season.
Willocks nearly struck again with less than eight minutes remaining, but her shot missed high. At the other end, Kammerinke kept things knotted up with a big save on a corner attempt by Thalia Willamson.
Saint Joseph's (7-4 overall, 3-0 Atlantic 10) pressed for a winner over the final minutes, with Hoyt making a key save on Willocks with 52 seconds to go. The Hawks were able to keep the ball in the offensive end, and the persistence paid off as Willocks found Pauling in front of the cage in the closing seconds. Pauling tucked the ball into the corner of the cage for her third goal of the season, and her second game-winner.
Rain and clouds hung in the air all afternoon, but it was a bright start for the Hawks as Turk redirected a corner attempt by Willocks for a 1-0 lead less than three minutes into the game.
The Spiders responded shortly after as Katrina Balatgek netted an equalizer with 29:04 to go in the half. Richmond would then go ahead 15 minutes later as Williamson found the back of the cage after a corner opportunity.
Turk tallied her second of the game with 1:38 to go in the frame, taking a transition pass from freshman midfielder Pepa Serrano and putting it between Hoyt's legs from the right side of the cage.
The second half saw more of the same back-and-forth action, culminating in Pauling's winner in the dying embers of the game.
The Hawks outshot the Spiders 13-8 on the day, including a 4-1 edge in the final eight minutes. Kammerinke finished the afternoon with four saves, while Hoyt made two.
The win is the first for the Hawks over the Spiders since 2001. SJU has now won its first three conference games for the first time since 2006. As the regular season reaches its final month and Atlantic 10 play heats up, the Hawks will continue to focus on doing what it takes to remain in the upper tier of the league.
“Our goal is to be there,” Farquhar said. “At the end of the day, we're still going to focus on ourselves. From the start of the season, we've laid out goals; we've laid out where we want to go, and it's our job to figure out how we get there. We're still on the journey and figuring out how we can get better every day.”
Saint Joseph's will now turn its attention to VCU. The Rams visit Hawk Hill on Sunday; game time is set for noon at Ellen Ryan Field.
