MEADVILLE, Pa. - Allegheny jumped out to a two-goal lead midway through the first half and never looked back, defeating visiting Hiram 3-0 in a North Coast Athletic Conference tilt at a sun-baked Robertson Athletic Complex.
Shannon McGuinn scored two goals, while
Taylor Renk had a goal and an assist, as Allegheny snapped a two-game losing skid and improved to 5-7 overall, and 2-1 in the North Coast Athletic Conference. The defeat dropped Hiram to 1-2 in the conference, and 3-8-1 overall.
After Hiram posted two corner kicks and two shots in the first five minutes of play, the Gators woke up in a big way. In the sixth minute, a blast from
Sarah Donohue from 20 yards out was saved by Terrier keeper Ally Green, but Allegheny maintained possession inside the Hiram defensive end. A little over two minutes later, the Allegheny pressure paid off. Donohue grabbed her own deflection just outside of the top of the box, and sent a diagonal pass to Renk, who quickly gathered it and sent a shot to the lower 90 and past Green for the game's all-important first goal.
Allegheny continued to attack, and maintained possession inside the Terrier end for a number of long stretches. In the 24th minute, Green denied
Blair Proteau on a textbook header in front off of a corner, while 90 seconds later, a rocket from
Hannah Smith. The Gator pressure would finally pay off with just inside 11 minutes left in the opening half, when a Hiram foul led to a Gator free kick from about 30 yards out. Kelly Gaus' took the kick, which ended up on the foot of
Isabella Martinez. Martinez then quickly one-touched it to McGuinn, who buried the blast through traffic for her team-leading sixth goal of the season to make the score 2-0.
The Gators kept up the attack, with Renk tallying a pair of shots over the final five minutes of the half, only to be denied by Green, including a diving save on shot from 12 yards out that was ticketed for the corner of the net to keep the margin at two goals as the game entered the intermission. Â
Over the opening 45 minutes of play, the Gators held a commanding 10-3 edge in shots. Green turned in five saves, while Gator keeper
Maya Hackman was forced to make just one stop.
The first two shots of the second half also belonged to Allegheny, before Hiram looked to seize the momentum. Between the 49th and 65th minutes, the Terriers were granted a pair of corner kicks and out-shot the Gators 5-0. Allegheny's defense withstood the pressure, forcing Hackman to make just one save over the span in maintaining the two-goal lead. Six minutes later, the Terriers embarked on another lengthy attack, with a corner kick and two shots, but again came up empty, as Hackman picked up her fourth save of the afternoon.
With 12:07 left in regulation, Renk sent a lead pass through two defenders to McGuinn, who corralled it in on the run and buried a shot from 15 yards out into the lower 90 to give the Gators a 3-0 lead.
Less than two minutes later, McGuinn narrowly missed the hat trick, as she banged a shot through traffic off the post. Thirty seconds later, Gaus looked to put the exclamation point on the win, but she was denied by Green on a header in close, and Allegheny would settle for the 3-0 victory.
Hiram out-shot Allegheny 10-7 over the second half, with Hackman tallying four saves to earn her second shutout victory of the season.
Eight different players were credited with at least one shot for the Gators, led by five from McGuinn and four from Renk. Green, the reigning NCAC Player of the Week, made five saves in the loss for Hiram.
The Gators will be back in action on Saturday, Oct. 14, playing host to NCAC foe DePauw at 12 p.m. on the Robertson Athletic Complex grass. Â
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