Kutztwon surprises Shippensburg in shutout fashion for the upset in DII field hockey.
SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. – Two first-half goals helped propel the Kutztown University field hockey team past the No. 1-ranked Shippensburg University Raiders by a final score of 3-0 on Saturday afternoon.
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Goaltender Chardonnay Hope was called into action early on, making four saves for the Golden Bears in the first ten minutes. In the twelfth minute, KU broke into the scoring column with a goal from Kyra Wozniak, her twelfth of the season, on a deflection off the stick of Madison Stewart to go ahead 1-0.
The Maroon and Gold doubled its advantage just ten minutes later as a well-executed penalty corner by Morgan Aldinger was tipped by Courtney Konowal and found Mackenzie Fuhrman, who slapped it home for the 2-0 lead. The Kutztown defense held firm to finish out the first half, taking this 2-0 advantage to the halftime break. Offensively, KU was firing on all cylinders from the first whistle, outshooting the Raiders in the opening frame, 10-9.
Senior captain Chardonnay Hope 14 saves in shutout win at No. 1 Shippensburg. #GoBearsGo pic.twitter.com/SpvfyU5wX7
— Kutztown Athletics (@KUGoldenBears) October 21, 2017
A resilient Shippensburg side peppered Hope to begin the second half, firing off seven shots in the first twenty minutes of play, but the New Castle, Delaware-native was up to the task, keeping the Raiders at bay with several miraculous saves. In need of an important insurance goal, Wozniak delivered again for KU, gathering a loose rebound in the crease after a Shippensburg defensive save and tapping it in to extend Kutztown's lead to three.
Following the Wozniak goal, Hope and the Golden Bear defense finished out the final six minutes without surrendering a goal to secure the 3-0 shutout victory. Hope finished the game with 14 saves and Hadley Wiktor added a defensive save for KU, which had 15 total saves in seventy minutes of action. The shutout for the Kutztown defense is its sixth of the season, blanking a Raider side which had scored 18 goals in its last two games.
With the win, Hope's season record runs to 10-6 while Raider goaltender Ally Mooney falls to 12-3 in 2017.
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This is the first victory for Kutztown field hockey over a No. 1-ranked opponent since its win over No. 1-ranked Bloomsburg University in 2009.
Running its win streak to three straight, the Golden Bears improve to 10-6 overall and 5-4 in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference.
The Maroon and Gold have one regular season game in the PSAC remaining, taking on No. 2 East Stroudsburg University in their next contest at 7 p.m. on Wednesday Oct. 25.
