ANNVILLE, Pa. – Senior Claire Behney scored two goals and junior Mimi Sullivan scored one goal and handed out two assists as No. 8-ranked Lebanon Valley rolled into its third straight Commonwealth Conference championship game with a 5-1 win over No. 13-ranked Elizabethtown College in the conference semifinals Wednesday afternoon at the LVC Field Hockey Stadium.
Top-seeded Lebanon Valley (17-2), which won its fifth game in a row, will host the conference title game on Saturday starting at noon. LVC will take on second-seeded Messiah College, a 4-0 winner over third-seeded Juniata College in the other semifinal on Wednesday, in the conference championship for the third straight season.
Fourth-seeded Elizabethtown (15-5) struck first, when Jen Pechart got behind LVC goalie Katie Pawlewicz and scored just under four minutes into the game. But the Flying Dutchmen erupted for three goals in eight minutes, kicking off a 5-0 LVC run to end the game.
Senior Mallary Anderson tied it up just under two minutes following Pechart's goal when, from the left post, she tipped in a pass from Sullivan. Sophomore Alex Wolfe then scored what held up as the game-winning goal with 22:12 on the clock when she drilled in her 13th goal of the season, converting a Steph Marguglio cross from the left.
Behney capped the first-half scoring just over a minute later, taking a pass from Sullivan and blasting in a shot from just inside the circle to make it 3-1 at the half.
Behney cashed in again with 11:07 remaining in the contest, as she took a Marguglio cross from the left and drilled in a shot in front of the cage for her 10th goal of the year. Sullivan provided the finishing touches when she ripped in an unassisted goal 31 seconds before the buzzer.
Pawlewicz finished with three saves for Lebanon Valley, which out-shot the Blue Jays 16-6 and held a 15-7 advantage in penalty corners. Kristen Callaghan stopped six shots for E-town.
Elizabethtown 1 0 - 1
Lebanon Valley 3 2 - 5
E – Jen Pechart (unassisted), 3:58
LV – Mallary Anderson (Mimi Sullivan), 5:50
LV – Alex Wolfe (Steph Marguglio), 12:48
LV – Claire Behney (Mimi Sullivan), 13:50
LV – Claire Behney (Steph Marguglio), 58:53
LV – Mimi Sullivan (unassisted), 69:29
Shots: Elizabethtown 6. Lebanon Valley 16.
Saves: Elizabethtown (Kristen Callaghan) 6. Lebanon Valley (Katie Pawlewicz) 3.
Penalty Corners: Elizabethtown 7. Lebanon Valley 15.
Team Records: Elizabethtown 15-5. Lebanon Valley 17-2.
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