By Kelsey Newborn
Elm Staff Writer
With two Centennial Conference wins in the last week, the Shorewomen field hockey team is riding high as it heads into the semifinals of the conference tournament on Saturday.
Finishing off the regular season, the team took on Dickinson College for senior day. After honoring seniors Danielle Rosato, Sara Rutkowski, and Shannon Davis, the Shorewomen went on to clinch the fifth and final spot in the tournament with a 5-2 win over the Red Devils.
Heading into the first round conference contest against the Gettysburg Bullets, the Shorewomen were nervous, excited, and confident. The game was tenuous to be sure, with WC scoring the only goal of the first half, when Reilly dribbled the ball in front of the goal, put away by sophomore Hillary Kane.
Although the Shorewomen held Gettysburg for most of the second half, the Bullets put away a goal off a penalty corner with 10:12 to play in regulation. Typically not an overtime team, losing all OT games thus far this season that have gone into extra time, the Shorewomen came out on top. Wille scored the game-winning goal with 3:58 left in the first overtime when she lifted a ball into the cage off of a deflected shot by Trees.
Davis made 12 saves in the victory, and Junior Brittany Palasik had two more defensive saves. With those two, Palasik, who has already broken WC’s and the Centennial Conference’s single season saves, broke the unofficial Division III NCAA record set last year as well as the Centennial Conference career record set from 1996-1999.
With the win over the Bullets, the Shorewomen improve to 9-9 overall and head to the Centennial Conference semifinals on Nov. 6 at 11:30 am.. versus Ursinus College, the top seed.