Box Score
VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS FOR MOBILE DEVICES
VIDEO: SENIOR DAY CEREMONY
BRIDGEWATER, Va. – Junior forward Julia Baca etched her name into the Bridgewater College record book with a hat trick Tuesday afternoon as the Eagles celebrated Senior Day with a 10-0 victory over rival Eastern Mennonite in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) regular-season finale for both teams.
Baca's three goals established new single-season records for points with 43 and goals with 19. The previous marks of 39 points and 18 goals were both held by Sarah Pritchett.
The Eagles got on the board early when Michelle Viegas' cross to the far post found Keri Rager for the goal and a quick 1-0 lead just 7:03 into the game.
Two goals in less than a four-minute span pushed the margin to 3-0. Mari Marotta scored her third goal of the season off an assist from Ashley Crossman to make it 2-0 and the Eagles took advantage of a corner kick to add their third goal. Alycia Giauque sent a low pass into the box and Nicole Blackwell finished with the goal to put the Eagles on top by three goals. The goal was Blackwell's third of the season.
Baca scored the first of her three goals when she cleaned up a rebound in front of the goal, making the score 4-0 in the 26th minute.
Bridgewater kept the pressure on and added two more scores before the end of the half. Sarah Brennan sent a crossing pass to the back post and Kelly Patterson slotted the shot just past EMU's keeper for a 5-0 Eagles lead. Baca scored her second goal in the 34th minute when she took a through ball from Patterson and beat the keeper in a one-on-one situation, making the score 6-0 at the break.
The Eagles scored early in the second half when a Royals defender took down Marotta just inside the box, giving the hosts a penalty kick. Senior defender Elizabeth Stump made the kick for her first career goal as Bridgewater's lead grew to 7-0.
Rager scored her second goal on a breakaway and Patterson tallied her second goal off a centering pass from the right side from Amber O'Connor, running the tally to 9-0. Rager and Patterson now have eight goals each for the season.
Baca finished off the scoring when she took a through ball from Viegas in the 64th minute for the final 10-0 margin of victory.
Bridgewater held a 22-0 edge in shots in the first half and finished with a 36-6 advantage in shots. The Eagles also had nine corner kicks, compared to just one for the Royals. Baca led the Eagles with eight shots and Anna Theisen added six attempts. Sara Shenk Moreno took three of EMU's six shots.
Three goalkeepers shared time for the Eagles in recording the shutout. Krista Kelly earned her 13th victory of the season with 50 minutes in goal. Hayley Talbott registered one save during her time between the pipes and Taylor Riley turned away three shots. Morgan Hill recorded four saves in the first 15 minutes of play for EMU and Nora Osei played the rest of the way and finished with nine saves.
The contest was the final home regular-season game for Bridgewater's six seniors - Theisen, Stump, Kelly, Marotta, Erin Holden and Paxton Sauerwald. The group has won more contests than any other senior class in program history as the team's record during their four years is now 52-23-4.
Bridgewater finishes its regular season with a 16-3 overall record and a 10-2 ODAC record. Both win totals are new program records. EMU closes out its regular season at 6-11-1, 5-8 in the conference.
The Eagles will be back in action Saturday afternoon when they will host a first-round ODAC tournament game against an opponent still to be determined. Bridgewater will be seeded No. 3 and will play the No. 6 seed – either Shenandoah or Roanoke. Saturday's game will begin at 2 p.m.
