ROCKVILLE CENTRE, N.Y. — Freshman Dana Poetzsch (Hicksville, N.Y.) registered her second three-goal hat trick of the season to lead Molloy College to a 3-0 victory over Daemen College here today in East Coast Conference women's soccer soccer action.
Molloy, which has now won four of its last five games, improved to 8-7-2 overall and 5-3-0 in the ECC. The Lions secured their first appearance in the ECC Championship Tournament since 2011 with the win. Daemen saw its hopes of earning its first-ever bid to the ECC Championship Tournament come to an end with the loss, and dropped to 8-7-1 overall and 3-5-0 in the league.
The game remained scoreless until the 31st minute. Daemen was unable to clear the box following a Molloy throw-in, and during the ensuing scramble Poetzsch was able to collect the ball and slip a low shot past charging Daemen net-minder Katelin White (Lewiston, N.Y./Lewiston-Porter).
The Wildcats nearly tied the game two minutes later when sophomore Jamie Boyar (Williamsville, N.Y./Williamsville South) slipped behind the Molloy defense following a nice lead pass from midfield. Boyar broke in on the left side, but her shot from 15 yards out went off the crossbar and out of play.
It looked like the hosts would take a 1-0 lead into halftime, but the Lions doubled their lead following a buzzer-beating goal. With five seconds left in the half junior midfielder Amanda Milazzo (Setauket, N.Y.) sent a shot towards the Daemen net. A Molloy striker prevented White from handling the shot cleanly and the rebound went right to Poetzsch, who tapped the ball into the empty net with one second left on the clock.
Daemen managed just two total shots in the second half, and the hosts secured the win with just over six minutes left to play. The ball was in the hosts end when a Molloy defender one-timed a clearing pass up to Poetzsch, who fended off a Wildcat defender and sent a low left-footed shot under White for her league-leading 16th goal of the year.
Molloy finished with a 17-6 edge in total shot and a 10-3 advantage in shots on goal. The hosts also posted a 5-1 edge in corner kicks.
White finished with seven saves, while freshman Jackie Carey (East Islip, N.Y.) made three saves for the Lions en route to her seventh shoutout of the season.
Daemen will close out the 2017 season Monday (Oct. 30) when it travels to Shepherd University for a non-league game.
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