Caitlyn Bowman and Kara Buda lift Juniata over Susquehanna

HUNTINGDON, Pa. -- Juniata College field hockey struck again in Landmark Conference action with a 4-0 win over Susquehanna University, Wednesday afternoon at Winton Hill Field, in the Eagles' first home game since their season opener on September 3. 

Seniors Caitlyn Bowman (Seven Valleys, Pa./Dallastown) and Kara Buda (Franklin, N.J./Wallkill Valley) were the driving force behind the Eagles offense, each scoring twice in the contest. 

Bowman's game winner came just seven minutes into the match when she gathered the ball in front of the goal face off a rebound shot, and put it past Susquehanna (2-8, 0-3 Landmark) goalie Erin Ferguson. 

In the 34th minute, Bowman got her second mark of the day when she yet again found a loose ball at the Susquehanna cage as a direct result of a penalty corner taken by sophomore Liz Slimak (Elizabethtown, Pa./Lower Dauphin). 

Buda poured on the offense for Juniata (7-2, 2-0 Landmark) in the second 35 minutes of play, when she accepted a senior Meghan McGlone (Coopersburg, Pa./Southern Lehigh) pass and poked it by Susquehanna in the 48th minute. 

Bowman tacked on an assist when she helped a diving Buda to her second goal of the contest in the 57th minute. 

"Susquehanna is always a really tough game, and every year we go in knowing it's going to be a hard game. So to be able to pull off such a big win with so many girls putting in such a big effort is a really great step up for the team this year," said Buda about the victory. 

Bowman and Buda's efforts made each of them jump to the top of the Juniata leaderboard in goals and points. Both currently hold six goals on the season, and Bowman has tallied 14 points with Buda closely trailing with 12.

Juniata held a 24-5 shot advantage over the Crusaders and charted 10 penalty corner opportunities to Susquehanna's five. 

Junior Janelle Howard (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Cumberland Valley) earned her second shutout of the season and turned away three Crusader shots in her 57 minutes of play. Howard split time with freshman Shelby Miller (Pottstown, Pa./Owen J. Roberts) who protected the Eagle cage for 13 minutes. 

Juniata continues Landmark Conference play at home against Moravian College on Saturday, Oct. 8, at 1:00 p.m. 

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