Grace Emanuel
6
Winner Gannon GAN (2-1-1, 2-0-0)
0
Pitt.-Johnstown UPJ (0-3-1, 0-2-0)
Winner
Gannon GAN
(2-1-1, 2-0-0)
6
Final
0
Pitt.-Johnstown UPJ
(0-3-1, 0-2-0)
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Gannon GAN 4 2 6
Pitt.-Johnstown UPJ 0 0 0

Game Recap: Women's Soccer | | Bob Shreve, Assistant Director of Athletics Media Relations

Freshmen Explode as Gannon Posts 6-0 Win at UPJ

Game was makeup from Saturday postponement

JOHNSTOWN, Pa. – The Gannon women's soccer team, and in particular a host of freshmen, didn't mind waiting a couple extra days to take the pitch at Pitt-Johnstown. The two teams were scheduled to play their PSAC West match on Saturday afternoon, but persistent lightning forced the match to be postponed until Monday. The Golden Knights came out fast and posted a 6-0 win over the Mountain Cats.

The victory was the second straight for head coach Colin Petersen's squad as they improved to 2-1-1 overall and 2-0-0 in PSAC West action. UPJ is now 0-3-1 and 0-2-0, respectively.

After losing to the Mountain Cats 1-0 a year ago, Gannon left little to chance this time around thanks to an ever-emerging freshman class. Four different first-year players accounted for five of Gannon's six goals. The six goals were the most scored by Gannon since a 7-1 win over Indiana (Pa.) on Oct. 28, 2014.

Grace Emanuel (Erie, Pa./McDowell) opened the scoring with her first career goal just four minutes into the match with the assist going to another freshman, Hannah Shepard (Erie, Pa./Mcdowell). The two were teammates at nearby McDowell High School. Emanuel missed the first two games with an injury.

The lead grew to 2-0 when the other half of the two highly-touted freshman scorers, Brooklyn Respecki (McKean, Pa./General McLane), scored an unassisted goal into the right corner of the goal at the 18:00 mark. Respecki hails from nearby General McLane High School.

Gannon's advantage grew to 4-0 thanks to a pair of goals less than four minutes apart later in the first half. Sammie Dales (Conneautville, Pa./Homeschool), a player at the other end of the spectrum as a graduate student, found the back of the net for the first time in 2023 to make it 3-0 at 31:30. At 35:17, yet another freshman, Amelya Bretz (Erie, Pa./Harbor Creek) of Harbor Creek High School, recorded her first career goal thanks to an assist from Gretchen Oslick (Freedom, Pa./Ambridge).

Respecki scored her second goal of the match and third of the season at 65:29 as Gannon's lead grew to 5-0. The unassisted goal was fired into the low left corner.
Just over fifteen minutes later in the 81st minute Victoria Wheeler (Bordentown, N.J./Bordentown Regional) became the fourth freshman to score, with her unassisted goal the second of her career.

Gannon finished the afternoon with 22 shots compared to five for UPJ. That included a 15-1 margin shots on goal. Morgan Sinan (Cranberry Twp., Pa./Seneca Valley) played the first 63 minutes in goal to pick up the win, with Jordan August (Morgantown, W. Va./Morgantown) playing the  

Gannon returns to action on Saturday, September 16 hosting crosstown rival Mercyhurst in a battle of the top two teams in the PSAC West preseason poll. Gannon was the preseason favorite with the Lakers second. The two renew their rivalry at 6:00 p.m. at McConnell Family Stadium.
 
 
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