Like clockwork, Head Coach Pete Curtis maintained tactical consistency with a 4-3-3 team sheet. From left to right, Ashley Venezia, Christyana Sims, and Bella Gilberto headed the three-faced hydra of the Vulcans’ formation. Freshman Kaitlin Bickhart manned a new position as the floating left-pivot of the midfield alongside Lorina Romeis and Reagan Bromiley. Katey Berns maintained her left center-back position. Freshman Caelin Thomas shifted from her left-back duties into right center-back, taking over the position from Hannah Morton, who was out with an injury. Senior Corina Wilkins bulwarked the Vulcan right flank. Across the field, Sophomore Izabella DeGlopper jumped from her familiar right-back role to the left-back space vacated by Thomas.
The Mountain Cats roared out of the gates, dominant for the first 15 minutes. In the 12th minute, Bromiley clattered into a Pitt-Johnstown player. In the minutes that the Psychology Major received medical attention, the grandstand stood silent. Another minute passed, Bromiley walked off the pitch, the crowd clapped, and Sophomore Kaylee Elwood replaced her.
In the 13th minute, Mountain Cat captain Haley Neidig hounded Thomas in her own penalty box. The Senior pressured the Freshman into coughing up the ball. Neidig calmly slotted the ball past the exposed Ouimet, giving Pitt-Johnstown a 1-0 lead.
In the 39th minute, DeGlopper created the host’s best chance of the half. The left back launched a through ball onto the back-breaking run of winger Soraya Gibbs. Yet, Johnstown goalkeeper Megan Giesey heroically guarded the fragility of her team’s one-goal lead at the end of the first half.
In the 50th minute, the Vulcans controlled possession within the visitors’ half, testing the Mountain Cats’ defense. Maryland-native Sims rolled a backpass to Romeis, who sent the ball through the air toward the goal. Mountain Cats’ 5’4” goalkeeper Megan Giesey leaped but the ball leaped higher. The Vulcans restored balance at 1-1.
In the 68th minute, Mountain Cats Junior midfielder Abby Jackson carried the ball into the field, and Pitt-Johnstown captain Niedig finished the move, nudging her header past Ouimet’s left to a 2-1 goal.
As the game petered out, the Vulcans forged away but failed to achieve a second equalizer. Bromiley’s second-half return galvanized the home team. In the 70th minute, Veronica Waruenk held her hands to her head after missing a wide-open goal off of a corner. Over the weekend, the Vulcans lost 2-1 at Gannon (4-2-1) on Saturday, falling to 2-4-1. Their road trip continued at Indiana, PA, where the Vulcans faced the Crimson Hawks (2-3-1) on Wednesday, Sept. 27. The Vulcans’ next home game is this Saturday, Sept. 30 against Slippery Rock (5-2-1). The match kicks off at 1 pm.
