Franciscan 3, Chatham 1

Starting XI 
Catherine DeWolf, Elise Doyle, Teaghan Elmore, Elise Winogradoff, Eva Dexter, Anni Winogradoff, Maria De La Torre, Elli Bourdelais, Lillian Torbeck, Brenna Pereira, & Goalkeeper - Rebekka Dill 

How It Happened 
    Coming into tonight the visiting Cougars were 5-0 on the road. Early in the game, the Cougars dominated the possession. The Barons had to defend four corners and Dill had to make two incredible saves before the Barons even got a shot off. The first goal of the game came off an opponent free kick. Chatham's Carly placed a high shot the dropped just under the crossbar out of Dill's reach.
     Down 0-1 in the 22', the Barons began to flip the field and put more pressure on the opponents midfield. Instead of gaining possession deep in your own end and having to clear, the Barons were gaining possession in the defensive midfield. The women kep their striker Dexter busy sending long balls one after the other for her to chase down. Each time Dexter fought through multiple defenders just for the goalkeeper to scoop up the ball. Then she had to sprint back to defend. In the 37' she had enough of being denied. Once again her teammates launched a long ball for her to go run down. She reached the ball at the same time as two Chatham defenders. She willed her way through both of them retaining control of the ball. Just above the goalie box she fired a missile into the goalkeeper's chest. Dexter pressed forward scooping up the rebound and immediately rocketed another shot back toward the goal. Again, the Chatham keeper jumped up from the ground to get her body in the way and make the save. With two defenders still on her heels trying to push her off her line and away from the ball, Dexter collected the ball again, but this time all that was in front of her was green pasture and the promise of adding a point to the board. Her goal was impressive not from a deke that left defenders tripped up or a shot so bent it looked like it was in an orbit. Her goal was the result of sheer will. A mindset that his team is slowly developing. Midfielders were muscling there way to winning 50/50 balls. Fellow freshmen standout Catherine DeWolf pushed any Cougar forward that came near her away from the ball maintaining Baron possession.
    Dexter went on to score two more goals for her first career hat-trick and as you may expect in the exact same fashion as the first goal. 
    Assistant Coach Michelle Santurino was at the helm for today's game en lieu of Coach Miller. It is her first win as a collegiate coach and the perfect report to bring back to your head coach, "we played hard and we won!"

Inside the Numbers  
-Dill recorded 3 saves
-Dexter's 14 shots iin the game is second all-time 

Who's Next? 
Franciscan will remain at home to take on Washington & Jefferson on Wednesday evening at 7:30 p.m. The Barons are 1-13-2 all-time against the Presidents with a win against them in 2022. The Presidents are 4-4-1 this season with a 1-0 PAC record heading into this matchup.

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