Box Score
ANNVILLE, Pa. - Lebanon Valley scored three goals in a 3:44 span in the second half to break open a close game and beat Elizabethtown, 5-1, in a Commonwealth Conference semifinal game Wednesday.
The Dutchmen (17-2) will now move on to their sixth consecutive CC Championship game, and will visit #1 Messiah, an 8-0 winner over Widener, for the sixth straight season on Saturday at a time to be announced. LVC will be making its 15th appearance overall in the conference title game.
Shelly Lobach became LVC's all-time assists leader with an assist on the game's final goal, and she also scored two goals.
Jocelyn Novak notched LVC's final two goals, and
Caitlin Vasey added three assists.
The Blue Jays (11-7) played a tight first half after spotting the Dutchmen a 3-0 first-half lead in LVC's 5-2 win last week, but the Dutchmen turned it on late, outshooting E-town 11-0 in the second half.
Elizabethtown took a stunning early lead when Liz DiMatteis finished off a counter when she lifted Caitlin Grimes' pass over
Caitlin Baro at 6:40.
However, Lobach redirected Vasey's cross 57 seconds later to level the game. After a frustrating sequence where E-town played some tough defense,
Jenni Walker broke through with the eventual game-winner, converting a point-blank shot off Vasey's cross at 32:14.
LVC controlled the second half, but E-town kept it close at 2-1. Lobach gave her team some breathing room when she tallied her second at 55:55, taking a close shot off Vasey's assist, and that opened the floodgates. Novak drilled home a rebound two minutes later, and then finished on
Nikki Bomberger's blast after Lobach's corner injection at 59:39.
That assist put Lobach at 37 for her career, surpassing former teammate and front-line partner
Alex Wolfe '09 for the program record. Ironically, Wolfe had broken the record in last year's LVC-Elizabethtown semifinal.
LVC dominated on shots (20-3) and corners (20-2). Baro did not make a save in the win, while Liz Hannegan stopped five.
Game Notes:
Novak has now scored five goals in two postseason games against Elizabethtown, and eight overall in the postseason ... ... Novak has scored in 11 consecutive games ... Elizabethtown subbed 32 times in the game to try and stay fresh; all of LVC's starters played the full 70 minutes ... Lobach is the third player in as many seasons to break LVC's career assists record, after Wolfe and Mimi Sullivan '08 ... Vasey has 10 assists in her last five games, and seven in the last two after tying a program record with four against Widener ... The win was LVC's 11th in a row over E-town ... LVC will make its 15th appearance overall in either the MAC or Commonwealth Conference title game; 11 of the last 12 have been against Messiah ... LVC and Messiah have met in the title game each of the past five years, with LVC winning once, in 2006 ... Messiah was also nationally ranked #1 before last year's title game ... LVC has won six MAC/CC titles overall.
