THE BASICS
Score: Gannon 4, at Clarion 1
Location: Clarion, Pa. – Memorial Stadium
Records: Gannon (9-8, 9-7 PSAC) / Clarion (3-11-2, 3-11-2 PSAC)
The Short Story: The Gannon women’s soccer team secured their sixth berth in seven seasons to the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Tournament following a 4-1 win over Clarion Saturday evening at Memorial Stadium. The Lady Knights dominated play by out-shooting the host Golden Eagles, 40-4. Senior Justine Rodrigues (Georgetown, Ontario / Georgetown District) led the Lady Knights’ scoring attack for the second straight match with two goals, while junior Becca Albert (Fairview, Pa. / General McLane) scored her first career goal and the eventual game-winner. The victory also marked head coach Colin Petersen‘s 100th career-win at Gannon.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
– Gannon scored the only goal of the first half. Just over halfway through the first stanza, the Lady Knights earned a 1-0 lead in the 24th minute. Rodrigues scored her eighth goal of the season on a pass from juniorMani Brueckner (Valencia, Pa./Mars Area).
– In the 63rd minute, the Lady Knights pushed their lead to 2-0 over the Golden Eagles. Brueckner picked up her second helper of the evening, as she found junior Becca Albert (Fairview, Pa. / General McLane). Albert’s tally was her first career goal and the eventual game-winner.
– Just over four minutes later, the Golden Eagles split the Lady Knights’ lead in half, 2-1. On an unassisted-effort, Casey Harsch scored the only Golden Eagles’ goal on a cross attempt that dropped in behind sophomore goalkeeper Shannon Differ (Brampton, Ontario/Notre Dame C.S.S.).
– The Lady Knights struck back just three minutes later to extend their lead back to two goals. FreshmanBethany Perri (Valencia, Pa./Mars Area) scored her third goal on a solo effort.
– The GU scoring attack came to an end in the final 10 minutes of action. In the 82nd minute, sophomoreCourtney Edwards (Erie, Pa. / Villa Maria Academy) connected with Rodrigues, who scored her second goal of the day and team-best ninth tally of the season.
 
GAME NOTES
– Differ was forced to make only one save, as she collected her seventh victory.
– For the second straight match, the Lady Knights held more than a 23-shot advantage over its opponent. This season, the Lady Knights posted their widest shot-margin this season of 36 shots.
– Rodrigues led the Lady Knights with nine shots followed by eight shots each from Brueckner and juniorKaitlyn Kissell (Erie, Pa. / Villa Maria Academy).
– Harsch was the only Golden Eagle to provide any shots, accounting for all four.
 
BEYOND THE BOX SCORE
– Gannon improved to 9-3-2 in the all-time series against Clarion. The Lady Knights are unbeaten in the last four matches against the Golden Eagles with a 2-0-2 record.
– The Lady Knights have out-shot their opponent in 14 of 17 matches this season.
– In a 3-1 win over Charleston Aug. 31, 2003, the Lady Knights fired 39 shots, the highest total for the team since this evening’s match.
– From the corner, the Lady Knights held an 8-0 advantage.
– The Lady Knights have recorded 11 combined goals in the last two matches, securing wins in four of the last five matches.
– Coach Petersen is the first head coach to reach the 100-win milestone in program history.
 
UP NEXT
Gannon will open the PSAC Tournament as the No. 7 seed. The Lady Knights travel to No. 2 seed West Chester Nov. 4, with the match time yet to be determined.