Naughton Hat tricks fires up lions on way to 4-0 rivalry win.
The Penn State Women's soccer team traveled to face a familiar rival in Penn State Abington Saturday. Abington knocked out Harrisburg in the 2011 North Eastern Atlantic Semi-finals, but the 2012 season has been a different story and so would today's result as Harrisburg shocked 4th place Abington with a strong 4-0 win.
Pre Game Comments by Tina Martino
The Harrisburg women had slow starting warm up which had the coaching staff worried a little prior to the opening whistle. All of their worries were put to bed once the Harrisburg lions started hard and fast as they showed one of their best performances of the season.
Lyndsay Naughton (Reading, Pa / Reading Central Catholic) had all three first half goals and her first hat trick of the season leading the offensive charge. "It was great to see Lyndsay's skill and work rate come together today as she earned her first hat trick" said head coach Adam Clay following the game.
Mae Lynn Gonzales, halftime comments:
The second half was a little less intense in terms of scoring, with Fay Ansary (Hummelstown, Pa / Hershey) scoring her a sweet goal in the upper 90, her seventh goal of the season and the lone second half goal. Midfielder Chelsea Dimmig (Elizabethtown, Pa/ Elizabethtown) played a great ball setting up Ansary, getting her first assist of the season. The game continued to be exciting elsewhere as Abington received two yellow cards for some hard challenges in the second half while fighting hard to the last whistle, especially considering they played with no subs.
"I am really proud of the entire teams play today. The back four, as well as our goalie Mackenzie Gates (Harrisburg, Pa/ Central Dauphin), played great today and kept a shut- out against a tough team." Clay continued with, "my favorite play of the game was when we turned and played the ball from our midfield to defense and they switched the entire field for us around the back. This is a skill we have been working hard to get to the level of and shows how much we have improved since the first game of the season."
Harrisburg only has two games left before playoffs start. Wednesday they travel to Wilson College followed up by a home game against first place PSU Berks Saturday October 27th at noon.
Post Game comments by Kara Hoy and Lyndsay Naughton