LEWISBURG, Pa. — Olympian Boati Motau (So., Johannesburg, South Africa/Roedean School South Africa) stacked up five second half goals to account for all of her team’s scoring over the final 16 minutes of action as host Bucknell University outlasted Villanova University, 10-9, on the final day of the 2023 Bucknell Invitational at Kinney Natatorium.
Leading 5-4 at halftime, the Bison relied on Motau down the stretch to pen the Wildcats.
Following a Villanova score with 6:26 left in the third quarter to square the squads at five-all, Motau – who competed for South Africa at the 2020 Olympics – stalled the Wildcats’ desire for the lead by swishing natural (3:48) and penalty shot (3:09) goals to provide Bucknell with a 7-5 margin.
The teams exchanged scoring blows over the remainder of the frame as Villanova chipped its deficit down to 7-6 at 2:50 prior to Motau completing a hat-trick at 2:09 to return the Bison’s lead to a pair at 8-6 heading into the fourth quarter.
Back-to-back strikes by Villanova at 7:30 and 5:10 balanced the scoreboard at eight-all, but Motau delivered her fourth marker the half to push the Bison ahead at 9-8 with 2:50 left on the clock.
Villanova appeared to set the stage for overtime as the Wildcats pulled even at nine-all with 48 seconds left in regulation. However, once again Motau answered for the home team as she lined in a five-meter penalty shot with 34 ticks on the clock for the deciding factor as Bucknell escaped with a 10-9 win.
In the first half, Villanova claimed a 1-0 lead with 6:12 left in the first quarter and Bella Moynihan (Sr., San Anselmo, Calif./Sir Francis Drake) responded with a man-up tally at 5:38 to make it a one-all game. Back-to-back Wildcats’ goals at 2:20 and 58 seconds provided the visitors a 3-1 margin, but Bella Schraa (Fr., Greenwich, Conn./Greenwich) concluded the first quarter with a strike at the 41 seconds mark to pull the Bison back to within one at 3-2.
Isabelle Monaghan (Jr., Lawrenceville, N.J./The Lawrenceville School) evened the damage at the 5:21 mark of the second quarter prior to Gwen Kallmeyer (Fr., Mill Valley, Calif./Redwood) (4:26, man-up) and Monaghan (4:01) capping off a 3-0 Bison run to pull ahead at 5-3. Villanova diminished its deficit with 1:25 left in the second quarter to move within 5-4 heading into halftime and set the stage for Motau’s offensive exploits.
For Bucknell, Motau (five) and Monaghan (two) posted multi-goal games to accompany solo strikes from Schraa, Moynihan and Kallmeyer.
