NEW LONDON, Conn. — Cory McGrath (Sr., Flower Mound, Texas/Marcus) contributed five goals to claim Player of the Game recognition as Division III No. 9-ranked Austin College exploited a 9-3 scoring run in the third quarter to overwhelm Penn State Behrend, 21-9, in the third game of the 2024 CWPA Division III Championship hosted by Connecticut College at the Jane Cadwell Lott ’36 Natatorium.
The 2021 and 2022 CWPA Division III Champion, Austin (7-10, 6-2 CWPA Division III) advances to a 1:00 p.m. Eastern/10:00 a.m. Pacific semifinal clash against 2017, 2018 and 2019 CWPA Division III Champion Macalester College on Saturday, April 20. The Kangaroos fell in their prior meeting versus the Scots this year as Macalester claimed a 12-11 nail-biter at home in St. Paul, Minn., on March 24.
Penn State Behrend (4-16, 3-5 CWPA Division III) slips into the consolation side of the nine-team bracket as the Lions will battle Carthage College at 10:00 a.m. Eastern/7:00 a.m. Pacific on Saturday, April 20, with a spot in the Fifth Place game at stake. Behrend is 1-0 against the Firebirds this year courtesy a 6-5 victory on April 6 at home in Erie.
The ‘Roos led from close to the opening whistle to the closing horn versus the Lions as McGrath drew first blood 12 seconds into the game to stake Austin to a 1-0 lead with 7:48 left in the first quarter. Joslyn Dimitri (Fr., Couer d’Alene, Idaho/Couer d’Alene) padded the lead to 2-0 at 7:20 prior to Penn State’s Makenzie Rickerd (Fr., Rockford, Mich./Rockford) putting the Lions on the scoreboard at 5:39.
Ashley Chand (Jr., Southlake, Texas/Southlake), Alyssa Ross (Sr., San Jose, Calif./Leland) and Kylee Noble (Sr., Argyle, Texas/Guyer) ticked off tallies at 3:49, 3:06 and 2:32, respectively, to expand the lead to 5-1 before Darragh Martin (So., Green Lane, Pa./Upper Perkiomen) snapped the string with a score at 2:23 to move Penn State Behrend back to within three at 5-2.
Bianca Gallegos (So., Albuquerque, N.M./Manzano) struck at 2:07 to return the spread to four at 6-2, but man-up (1:59) and even-strength (1:32) scores by Marley Persch (Jr., Hudsonville, Mich./Hudsonville) inched the Lions back to within a pair at 6-4.
Ross capped off the first quarter with 38 seconds left to build the lead back to three at 7-4 prior to McGrath completing a hat-trick 14 seconds into the second quarter to double Penn State Behrend at 8-4.
Rickerd delivered a response with 6:20 on the clock, Noble answered at 5:47 for the ‘Roos and Martin fired in a counterpoint at 5:37 as the scoreboard flipped to 9-6.
The remainder of the second quarter was predominantly the domain of Austin as Gallegos (5:26), Chand (4:47, man-up), Dimitri (4:24, 3:41), McGrath (3:16), Ross (1:37, man-up) and Emma Boyce (Jr., Simi Valley, Calif./Royal) (one second) sandwiched a strike by PSB’s Susie Carrillo (So., Fresno, Calif./Clovis North Educational Center) at 4:36 to make it a 16-7 game heading into halftime
The ‘Roos kept punching in goals to commence the second half/third quarter as Ross (4:55, man-up) and McGrath (2:26) capped off a 9-1 outburst dating back to the 5:26 mark of the second quarter. Rickerd snapped the scoring string with 1:02 remaining in the third quarter by denting the twine to make it an 18-8 contest heading into the final eight minutes of regulation.
Dimitri (5:43, man-up) and Sofia Guzman (Fr., Aubrey, Texas/Braswell) (4:08) padded Austin’s lead to 20-8 within the first four minutes of the fourth quarter. Carrillo (3:32) and McGrath (2:43, man-up) capped off the scoring by exchanging goals in the waning moments of the game for the 21-9 final score.
For Penn State Behrend, Rickerd (three), Martin (two), Persch (two) and Carrillo (two) notched multi-goal games in support of goalkeeper Monica Villasenor (Fr., San Gabriel, Calif./La Salle).
McGrath (five), Dimitri (four), Ross (four), Gallegos (two), Noble (two) and Chand (two) accounted for 19 of the ‘Roos 21 goals with Guzman and Boyce both chipping in solo strikes.
| 1st Q | 2nd Q | 3rd Q | 4th Q | – | FINAL | |
| Penn State Behrend |
4 | 3 | 1 | 1 | – | 9 |
| Division III No. 9 Austin College | 7 | 9 | 2 | 3 | – | 21 |
| Austin Goals: | Cory McGrath (5); Joslyn Dimitri (4); Alyssa Ross (4); Bianca Gallegos (2); Kylee Noble (2); Ashley Chand (2); Sofia Guzman; Emma Boyce | |||||
| Penn State Behrend Goals: | Makenzie Rickerd (3); Darragh Martin (2); Marley Persch (2); Susie Carrillo (2) | |||||
| Exclusions: | Austin – 7 ; Penn State Behrend – 10 | |||||
| Advantage Opportunities: | Austin – 5-for-10 ; Penn State Behrend – 1-for-7 | |||||
| Sprints: | Austin – 3-for-4 (1st, 2nd, 4th) ; Penn State Behrend – 1-for-4 (3rd) | |||||
| Cards/Misconducts: | None | |||||
| Officials: | Martin Murray, Alex High | |||||
Penn State Behrend’s Monica Villasenor (#1)
Austin College’s Gracey Kettler (#13) lines up a shot as Penn State Behrend’s Nic Darrell (#2) defends
Penn State Behrend’s Darragh Martin (#20) blocks a shot from behind versus Austin College’s Bianca Gallegos (#2)
