Hannah Manczka’s goal in the 10th minute of overtime lifted the Gannon University women’s soccer team to a 1-0 upset victory over host Edinboro Tuesday in a PSAC Tournament quarterfinal game at Sox Harrison Stadium.
Manczka took a short pass from Emily Cekella and blasted a shot from 45 yards out past Edinboro goalkeeper Sarah Baskey and into the top left corner of the net for what proved to be the game-winning goal.
It was Manczka’s third goal of the season.
The win moves Gannon, which was seeded No. 6 in the eight-team field, into a 1:30 p.m. Friday semifinal date with No. 2 seed Kutztown at West Chester.
Kutztown advanced with a 3-0 win over Bloomsburg Tuesday. Host West Chester, the tournament’s top seed, will take on No. 4 East Stroudsburg — the two-time defending conference champion — in Friday’s other semifinal game.
The tournament championship game is set for 1 p.m. Sunday at West Chester.
The Knights improved to 10-5-3 overall on the season while Edinboro, which was seeded third in the tournament, fell to 13-4-1.
The fact that the two teams wound up in overtime shouldn’t have come as a surprise, as they battled to a scoreless tie in a double-overtime game played on Oct. 11. Manczka’s goal was the first score between the two teams in 209 minutes, 29 seconds on the season.
Tuesday’s win enabled the Knights to gain a measure of revenge over Edinboro, as it was the Fighting Scots who knocked Gannon out of last year’s PSAC Tournament in the semifinals at McConnell Family Stadium.
This time around, Edinboro appeared to have gone ahead just minutes before Manczka’s goal as the Fighting Scots’ Alex Root took a long pass from Ashley Mutkus and headed the ball past Gannon goalkeeper Shannon Differ.
But Gannon was called for a foul on Mutkus, stopping play before the shot.
Edinboro outshot Gannon 6-2 in the first half, but the Knights gained momentum midway through the second half and finished with 15 shots to Edinboro’s 12.
Differ proved up to the occasion, stopping all five shots on goal.
The Knights clinched a first-round matchup with a huge 2-1 win over California University of Pennsylvania on Oct. 25.
It was a late goal by Amberlynn Kegler in the second period that lifted Gannon to the win. Kegler, who was named ECAC Women’s Soccer Rookie of the Week, was assisted on the goal by Manczka.
Gannon scored just two minutes into the game when Cekella received a pass from Kelsey O’Connor and headed the ball past the goalkeeper.
The Vulcans tied the score in the 75th minute on a goal by Michaela Colon.
The Knights saw their 20-game home unbeaten streak come to an end Saturday in a 4-1 loss to East Stroudsburg.
The Warriors used three second-half goals to notch the win.
Gannon’s Taylor Lewis scored in the 20th minute to give the Knights a lead, but Alex Pickett of East Stroudsburg answered with two goals and Gannon never recovered.
Gannon seniors Differ, Courtney Edwards, Britney Barry, Kaylee Lewis, Bethany Perri and Kayla Wysocki were honored prior the game on Senior Night.
STEVEN PITCAIRN
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