September 30, 2010 your Pomeroys met the Trine University Thunder on Trine’s beautifully-updated pitch in northern Indiana in a match important for both sides. Trine, after a very strong beginning of their season, needed to get back on track, and the Pomeroys needed the same: they had not found the net since September 13 and needed a victory to stay near the top in the USCAA.
It would be a physical contest, with Trine relying on the speed and physical power of their big forwards, “getting a body on” at almost every challenge, and playing fast. Though Trine enjoyed a small advantage in possession for the first fifteen minutes, Samantha Morrison broke open the game in the 16th minute, receiving a ball angled by Jessica Black through the defense to an opening on the left corner of the box and driving a shot back across the keeper to the top right-hand corner of the goal. That lead would only last for 7 minutes. An air ball that the Pomeroys failed to clear far enough came down near the Thunder’s Rachelle Newberry, who volleyed it back over her shoulder and over April Baranowski into goal to equalize the score at 1-1. It would take almost no time, though, for the Pomeroys to strike back as Britt Simmerman took a ball deep near the goal line and sent it back across the goal mouth to an onrushing Samantha Morrison, who would knock it past Trine’s Kate Wegert to make it 2-1. In the 31st minute, the Pomeroys would strike again, with Erin Pugh taking a ball threaded through from Denae Sallis and beating the keeper one on one as she has so many times. The half ended with the Pomeroys on top 3-1.
Trine came out in the second half pushing hard to equalize, playing ball after ball in behind the Pomeroy defense, and gaining a slightly larger advantage of trips into the attacking third of the field. As Coach Stefankowicz noted, they played tougher and better in the second half. They were set back in the 82nd minute, however, by a long, low drive from the Pomeroys’ Jessica Black which got just under the keeper for a 4-1 advantage. Though Trine would strike back in the 84th minute as Jen Wall scored on a close-in shot, the final would remain 4-2 in favor of the Pomeroys. It was a hard match to close out and an emotional victory for the Woods players.
This evens the record at 4-4 as the Pomeroys prepare to host Berea College of Kentucky on Saturday at 2:00 p.m.