Box Score

GETTYSBURG, Pa. - The Swarthmore College women's soccer team captured its first-ever Centennial Conference championship and an automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament after prevailing 5-4 in a penalty kick shootout over No. 22 nationally-ranked Johns Hopkins on Sunday, Nov. 9 at Clark Field. With the victory, the Garnet earned the league's automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament.

Freshman Claire O'Brien converted what would stand as the winning marker in the eighth round by beating goalkeeper Clara Aranguren, who entered the match for the shootout, with a shot to the lower left corner of the net. Swarthmore junior goalkeeper Reba Magier, who was named tournament MVP, followed by making her third save in the shootout on a shot attempt by Vania Ludman to clinch the match for the Garnet. Senior Emma Sindelar, sophomore Mele Johnson, junior Aine Schanche and sophomore Hannah Lichtenstein also made their penalty kick attempts to propel the Garnet to the historic win.
 
Before the decisive shootout, the teams traded goals throughout the match. Hannah Kronick put Johns Hopkins (16-3-1) on the board first in the 12th minute when she received a through ball from Ana Bengoechea and fired a shot from the top of the box that landed in the back of the net. Swarthmore, however, had an answer within minutes as sophomore Caroline Khanna dribbled the ball into the box and unleashed a shot to the upper 90 to make it 1-1 in the 15th minute of action.
 
The teams once again exchanged scores in the second half before playing 20 minutes of overtime. Kronick, the league's all-time leading scorer, came through again to temporarily put the Blue Jays ahead by one-timing the ball to the left post past Magier in the 54th minute.
 
Despite the setback, Swarthmore (13-6-1) once again had an answer by capitalizing on a corner kick for the second time in three postseason matches in the 65th minute of play. Junior Amanda Bosworth won a scramble in the box and potted the goal on a cross taken by classmate Melissa Trofa, who tied a single-season program record by being credited with her team-leading eighth assist of the fall. 
 
Johns Hopkins, which had won eight of the previous nine Centennial Conference championships, had the best opportunity for either side to net the game-winning goal in regulation off a corner taken by Bengoechea. Sydney Teng had a wide open look at the goal, but Swarthmore sophomore Miranda Saldivar was able to block the ball on the goal line to keep the match knotted at 2-2.

The Garnet earned a corner kick and had a chance to win it with under two minutes left in regulation, but goalkeeper Sarah Bennett intercepted the ball inside the box. Magier also scooped up a dangerous ball on the other end in the waning seconds, and the teams headed to the shootout that was won by the Garnet.
 
Magier made five saves in regulation before turning away three more in the shootout for Swarthmore, which will make its first NCAA Division III Tournament appearance in program history. Bennett of Johns Hopkins played all 110 minutes of regulation and redirected one shot before being relieved by Aranguren in the shootout.
 
Swarthmore, which became the first fifth seed to win the title since the Centennial Conference Tournament began in 2001, will now wait to see where it is headed for the NCAA Tournament. The bracket will be revealed here at 1 p.m. EST on Monday, Nov. 10.
 
photos courtesy of Gettysburg College Athletic Communications