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BRIDGEWATER, Va. – Freshman Elizabeth Washington netted her first career goal in the waning moments of the second half and the Bridgewater Eagles field hockey team had numerous opportunities throughout the contest, but the Eagles fell to visiting Juniata College by a 2-1 tally on Wednesday evening.
Bridgewater (2-4) pounded the goal in the middle part of the first half. The Eagles earned three corners in a row and fired shots at the goal each time but Juniata netminder Julianne Jones was up to the task each time as the score remained tied as the game approached halftime.
Juniata (3-2) controlled play over the final five minutes of the first half and netted the go-ahead goal in the waning minutes of an evenly-played first frame. Following a corner, Allison Groft slid a pass through the arc from left to right and found Katie Alexander who put a shot into the back of the cage to hand the visiting Eagles a 1-0 lead, which is how the score would remain at the intermission.
Over the first 30 minutes of play, Juniata owned a slim 8-6 advantage in shots and a 6-4 gap in corners.
The visiting Eagles tallied an insurance goal in the opening minutes of the second stanza. At the 41:37 mark, Groft took a rebound off of an Amanda Harper save and found a wide-open Sarah Bilheimer for the goal and a 2-0 Juniata lead.
Bridgewater again went back on the attack in the middle of the second half. Following a corner, junior Caroline Fletcher ripped two shots at Juniata goalie Shelby Miller before Miller slid to the turf and committed a foul, issuing Fletcher a penalty stroke. Fletcher dribbled a slow roller to the net and Miller made an easy save to keep the game at a 2-0 Juniata advantage.
The Eagles finally broke through in the 63rd minute. Bridgewater earned yet another corner and this time the Eagles capitalized. Junior Rachael Loy fired the insert to Washington and the freshman ripped a shot into the back of the net to trim the deficit in half at a 2-1 margin.
Over the final seven minutes of the game, Bridgewater maintained its intensity at the offensive end. As time was about to expire, head coach Ally Kenyon used a timeout to set up a final play in the last second of the game. Sophomore Shannon Strosser earned a corner on the restart and junior Taylor Prillaman fired a shot at the cage but Juniata was able to clear the ball away to avoid overtime and ride away with a 2-1 victory in an even-played game.
Prillaman and Fletcher each fired four shots in the loss, while Washington tallied Bridgewater's lone goal of the evening.
Harper picked up the loss after recording six saves.
Juniata owned a slim 15-14 lead in shots and Alexander tallied the game's first goal and led the visiting Eagles with five shots on the evening.
Jones and Miller split time in the cage with Jones picked up the win following four first-half saves.
Bridgewater returns to action on Saturday at Wilson. Start time is set for 1 p.m.
