PHILADELPHIA, Pa. - Melissa Gamble scored in the 82nd minute to give Holy Family a 3-2 victory over Caldwell College on Saturday in the first Central Athletic Collegiate Conference match for both teams. The loss drops the Cougars to 0-3 on the season, while Holy Family improves to 2-3.
Holy Family struck first when Theresa Cirino beat junior goalkeeper Richelle Morse (Mount Holly, NJ/Rancocas Valley) in the 11th minute of the game. The Cougars responded just one minute later with a goal by freshman Carla Bleiler (Egg Harbor, NJ/Absegami), who put a shot into the upper right corner of the goal off of a free kick for her first collegiate tally. But in the 24th minute, Jen Hamill broke the tie in favor of Holy Family when she collected a loose ball in front of the Caldwell goal and put it into the empty net.
The game took a negative turn for the Cougars just before the end of the first half when the referee issued a red card to one of Caldwell's players for a hard foul. Despite playing with 10 players, the Cougars came out of halftime determined to tie the score, and carried most of the early play. Their efforts were rewarded in the 51st minute, when Bleiler scored her second goal of the game off of a corner kick played by fellow freshman Brook Delucca (Nutley, NJ/Nutley). Gamble's late goal extended Holy Family's CACC winning streak to 13 games.
Morse finished the game with 11 saves, including one off a penalty kick in the first half. Kristy Cusick had four saves for Holy Family.
The Cougars begin their home schedule on Wednesday when they host Nyack College at 4:00 p.m. in a CACC match.
CC - 1 1 - 2
HF - 2 1 - 3
Scoring Summary: 1. HF, Cirino 1 (McGuigan), 11:00. 2. CC, Carla Bleiler 1 (unassisted), 12:05. 3. HF, Hamill 1 (Redelheim, McGuigan), 23:00. 4. CC, Bleiler 2 (Brook Delucca), 50:58. 5. HF, Gamble 3 (Redelheim), 81:51.
Shots: CC - 9; HF - 21
Saves: CC - Morse, 11; HF - Cusick, 4
Corners: CC - 5; HF - 6
Fouls: CC - 25; HF - 13
Yellow Cards: CC - Fonseca (39:44); Bleiler (61:32)
Red Cards: CC - Pontoriero (44:40)
