FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Doug Roorbach, Sports Information Director 585.567.9556

       Houghton Women Come Back to Sting Cedarville

             Hannah Swift (#1 in white) had two goals as the Highlanders beat Cedarville 3-1.

Box Score

Houghton, N.Y.—The Houghton College women’s soccer team gave up an early goal, but came back to defeat the Cedarville University Yellow Jackets, 3-1 at Burke Field Saturday afternoon. It was Houghton’s eighth straight win.

In a pre-game ceremony, the Highlanders recognized the eight seniors on their roster and the crowd had hardly settled into their seats before Houghton found itself down 1-0. The goal came when a Houghton defender knocked down a long ball near the top of the penalty area. Cedarville’s Katie Koch collected the loose ball and fired a well-placed shot into the upper right-hand corner.

The Highlanders counter-attacked immediately on the kickoff following the goal and earned a free kick near the top of Cedarville’s penalty area. Hannah Swift’s shot went over a wall of defenders but glanced off the crossbar.

“I thought it might be one of those days,” said Head Coach David Lewis “after we hit that crossbar and then missed some other chances, too.” The Highlanders were controlling play and creating offensive opportunities, but weren’t able to finish.

Finally, at 25:28, Lauren Haggerty broke through the Cedarville defense and drove towards the goal. With a defender on her shoulder, Haggerty sent a square pass to an onrushing Carolynn Tomlinson. All alone, Tomlinson had no trouble beating Yellow Jacket goalkeeper Amber Laing.

“That was a nice combination that they put together to tie it up,” Lewis said. That’s the way the first half ended, with Houghton having outshot Cedarville 12-1, but the scoreboard showing a 1-1 tie.

Houghton continued to dominate in the second half, again outshooting Cedarville (10-2) and creating scoring opportunities. At 51:08, Hannah Swift got a diagonal pass on the left side of the penalty area from Lewandowski, took two touches and then sent a low, hard shot just inside the right post for the game-winner.

Cedarville’s defense hung tough, though, with Laing making several reflex saves and Houghton finding the crossbar yet again. It wasn’t until 72:30 that the Highlanders got an insurance goal. Kaylin Bull collected a loose ball at the mid-field stripe and sent Swift in on a breakaway with a perfect pass. Swift tucked the ball home to make it 3-1.

“It was good to come back and win,” Lewis said.

Lauren Foster played 76 minutes in goal for Houghton, giving up the goal and making one save. Becky Wakeman played the other 14 minutes. Laing had six saves for Cedarville.

Houghton improved its record to 10-2-2 and travels to Roberts Wesleyan College for a 7 p.m. game on Tuesday, October 23. Cedarville is now 4-11-1.

Photo credit: Mike Wise