Eagles Open Landmark Conference Play At Home Versus Scranton

By: Laura Chapman
Assistant Sports Information Director
chapmal@juniata.edu • juniatasports.net
Photo: Jennifer Jones 

HUNTINGDON, Pa. – This Saturday, the Juniata College women's soccer team will host the 2012 Landmark Conference champions from The University of Scranton, at 1 pm, on Winton Hill Field. The Eagles are coming off their first loss of the season, 4-1, to No. 16 Carnegie Mellon, and are currently in a tie with Drew College for the best overall record in the Landmark.

"The difference between the top five or six teams in the Landmark is one good pass, one bad pass, one shot on goal versus one shot not on goal," said head coach Scott McKenzie. "Scranton makes fewer mistakes. We need to put ourselves in a position to make fewer mistakes than they make and to capitalize on ones they do make. [Head coach] Colleen [Murphy] has their program playing pretty well right now. We have our program playing well. It's going to be, can our best show up, and can her best show up, and what happens."

The 7-1 Juniata team has scored an impressive 29 goals through eight games, from nine different field players. Seniors Paula Pryor (Westbrookville, N.Y./Burke Catholic) and Alicia Snyder (Jonestown, Pa./Northern Lebanon) lead the dangerous Eagles offense, and account for 10 of Juniata's goals, and nine of the teams' 21 total assists. Sophomore Michaela Lacek (New Tripoli, Pa./Northwestern) has amassed a lethal .542 shots-on-goal percentage, scoring five goals from her 13 shots on frame. Prior to the game against Carnegie Mellon, the Eagles had only surrendered four goals in seven games and overall have a 0.97 goals-against-average.

"We are a new team," said McKenzie. "We are a team that is doing things that previous teams have not. The question is, can we shed the old skin? Can this eagle lose its baby feathers and fly? We have our little downy feathers on right now and can we get rid of those and jump out of the nest?"

The University of Scranton dropped its first two games of the season at the Messiah/Franklin & Marshal Tournament. The Royals won the next six games straight and, most recently, are coming off two overtime victories. First-Team all-conference selections Samantha Russo and Kelsy McAnelly return for The University of Scranton in their final seasons. Russo has scored four goals up top for the Royals, so far this season, and McAnelly leads the team with 17 saves in her seven appearances.

Since the formation of the Landmark Conference, the two teams have play each other annually including twice in 2007 when they face off in the semifinals of the league tournament. Juniata has yet to get the better of the Royals in their seven matchups. In the 2007 showdown at the conference semifinals, the two teams were scoreless at the half and then a flurry of goals were scored in eight minutes knotting the game at two all. The University of Scranton was able to get the game winner with less than five minutes remaining and went on the win its first of four Landmark titles.

 "We're going with the same game plan," added McKenzie. "We're confident that it's the right game plan. We're confident that we have 23 players that can play the game plan. We should fear nobody. The team that doesn't fear anyone is the team that has a chance to win."   

Follow Your Eagles! Stay up-to-date on your Juniata College Eagles by following us on twitter (@JuniataEagles) and on Facebook (Juniata Eagles).