Allegheny College Athletics

ROCHESTER, N.Y. - Sixteenth-ranked Nazareth handed the Gators their third consecutive 2-0 defeat to close out the 2015 Rachel Miller Memorial Tournament.

The Golden Flyers had the early momentum, tallying three shots in the first seven minutes of play.  Allegheny sophomore keeper Tara Lynch made a pair of early saves, but Nazareth was able to take an early 1-0 lead when Laura Herman put home a rebound from in front in the game's eighth minute.

After Lynch made two more saves, in the eighth and 13th minutes, the Gator offense began to assert itself, as the visitors controlled possession over the remainder of the first half.  Between the 16th and 18th minutes, the Gators had a pair of shots and a corner, but were unable to find the equalizer, with one shot saved and the other blocked at close range.  With 10 minutes left in the half, the Gators received their second corner of the half, but the ensuing shot near the top of the box was blocked.

The Golden Flyers looked to end the half with momentum, posting three shots in the final four minutes, but Lynch saved one before the other two attempts went wide, and the score remained 1-0 at the intermission.

Over the opening 45 minutes of play, Nazareth out-shot the Gators 9-5, with Lynch making five first half saves.

The teams traded shots over a scoreless first 15 minutes of the second stanza, before a sustained Nazareth possession led to a pair of corner kicks in quick succession.  The Golden Flyers doubled up their lead after the second corner, as Jessica Byrnes knocked it home with 21 minutes left to play.

The majority of play would take place in the middle third of the field over the next several minutes, before the Gators made one final push in the game's final three minutes.  With 2:13 left, Brianna Layman sent in a header off of a Lauren Miller corner kick, but it was knocked away out of bounds by Nazareth keeper Allison Dobles to set up another corner.  Miller again sent it toward the box,  this time finding the head of Hannah Zangara, but Dobles made the save to end Allegheny's last scoring threat of the day.

The Gators owned a 4-3 advantage in shots over the second half, including a 4-1 edge in shots on goal.  For the game, the Golden Flyers out-shot Allegheny 12-9.  The Gators were led in the shots column by Sarah Donohue with three, while Zangara and Liana Leja totaled two apiece.  Lynch finished with five saves.

The Gators will have a five-day layoff before returning to action on Friday, Sept. 11th, when they open the Carnegie Mellon Cup against #11 Wheaton in a 5:30 p.m. contest in Pittsburgh.