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Taylor Made: Taylor Scores Five as Chatham University Stuns Penn State Behrend 8-4 for Seventh Place at CWPA Division III Championship
UTICA, N.Y. -- Sachelle Taylor (So., Brooklyn, N.Y./Holy Childhood) scored five goals, including three in the second half, to earn Player of the Game honors and lead Chatham University to an 8-4 victory over Penn State Behrend College in the seventh place game of the 2010 Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Division III Championship at Utica College.
The win snaps a two-game losing streak by the Cougars to the Behrend Lions as PSU-Behrend knocked off Chatham 9-8 (April 11) and 6-4 (April 17) earlier this season. Overall, Chatham is now 3-2 all-time against the Lions as the Cougars went 2-0 against Penn State last year picking up 8-7 (March 28, 2009) and 9-8 (April 19, 2009) victories.
In a game which saw three ties in the first half at 1-1, 2-2 and 3-3, the Cougars poured on the offense in the second half and locked down on defense to outscore Penn State 4-1 over the final 16 minutes of play for the four-goal victory.
Chatham jumped on top early in the contest as the Cougars won the game's opening sprint and converted on the first opportunity courtesy an outside shot by Natty Burford (So., Temeculah, Calif./Temeculah) at the 7:45 mark. PSU responded 1:35 later with a score by Tegan Boland (Jr., Roselle, Ill./Conant), but Burford countered with a seven-meter shot at 5:46 to return the lead to the Cougars.
The squad's continued to exchange goals as MaryEllen Spooner (Fr., Springfield, Va./West Springfield) converted on a man-up chance at 3:54 of the first period and Taylor found the back of the cage at 6:43 of the second period to keep Chatham in front by one. Spooner added a five-meter penalty shot score at 4:31 to retie the contest at 3-3, but Taylor put the Cougars in front to stay with an outside shot with 1:52 glowing on the clock for a 4-3 Chatham lead at halftime.
Neither team could muster anything on the offensive end of the tank for nearly six minutes until Taylor collected her own rebound off the right post and stuffed the second chance into the cage to complete a hat-trick and push her team out to a 5-3 lead with 3:56 left in the third period.
In the fourth period, Taylor registered her fourth consecutive score for the Cougars as she spun her defender at two meters and fired a shot into the cage to add another insurance goal and set the scoreboard at 6-3. She completed her day 65 seconds later by weaving through the Lions' defensive pride for a back-hander at the 6:29 mark and a 7-3 lead.
The teams traded man-up tallies to the final horn as Selina Breiner (So., Moon Township, Pa./Moon) finished out Chatham's five-goal scoring spree less than a minute later with a power-play score at 5:36 before Danielle Wilson (Sr., Pittsburgh, Pa./Plum) closed the gap to four with a marker at 2:58 for the 8-4 final score.
Allison Bodine (So., Frederick, Pa./Urbana) notched the win for Chatham with seven saves, while Jenna Zeyfang (Sr., Erie, Pa./Erie First Academy) closed out her Lions' career by blocking down nine shots.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | -- | Final | |
| Chatham University | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3 | -- | 8 |
| PSU-Behrend | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | -- | 4 |
PSU-Behrend Goals: MaryEllen Spooner (2); Danielle Wilson; Tegan Boland
Chatham Goals: Sachelle Taylor (5); Natty Burford (2); Selina Breiner
Saves: PSU-Behrend - Jenna Zeyfang (9) ; Chatham - Allison Bodine (7)
Exclusions: PSU-Behrend - 7 ; Chatham - 6
Advantage Opportunities: PSU-Behrend - 3-for-6 ; Chatham - 1-for-7
Sprints: PSU-Behrend - 0-for-4 ; Chatham - 4-for-4
