Box Score

HAVERFORD, Pa. – Gettysburg battled fourth-seeded Haverford College to a 2-2 tie through regulation and a pair overtime periods before winning a penalty-kick shootout 4-2, advancing past the Fords in the first-round match of the Centennial Conference championship tournament Wednesday afternoon at Walton Field.
 
The fifth-seeded Bullets (8-7-2) will now face top-seeded and 13th-ranked McDaniel College in the tournament semifinals on Saturday at 11 a.m. in Westminster, Md. The winner moves on to Sunday's championship match to face the winner of the other semifinal between second-seeded and 19th-ranked Johns Hopkins University and third-seeded Swarthmore College.
 
Junior Jessica Cuttone (Mahwah, N.J./Mahwah) buried the match-clinching PK for Gettysburg, as the left-footer went upper right while Haverford goalie Kathy Prescott guessed left.
 
Sophomore Alexa Bushey (West Chester, Pa./Bayard Rustin) assisted on both goals for the Bullets, who will compete in the conference semifinals for the second time in three years. Junior Krissy Bradley (Fairfield, Conn./Fairfield Ludlowe) and sophomore Lauren Miesemer (Garden City, N.Y./Garden City) scored one goal apiece for Gettysburg, which will be seeking its first championship match appearance since 2011.
 
Haverford (10-4-4) finished with a 25-7 shot advantage, but sophomore goalie Kiera Loftus (Westfield, N.J./Westfield) made six saves for the Bullets. She made all but one of her stops in a frantic second half in which all four goals were scored and the Fords outshot the Bullets 16-3.
 
Gettysburg never trailed in the shootout after senior Julia Ramsey (Wayne, Pa./Conestoga) was true leading off. Loftus followed by making a diving stop on Anna Dekle before freshman Brooke Priddy (Darnestown, Md./Bullis School) put the Bullets up 2-0 on the team's second kick.
 
Skyler Ellenburg made it 2-1 when her shot deflected off Loftus and into the net, and Prescott gave the Fords life when she made a diving stop on Bushey. But Sydney West's ensuing shot sailed high, and the Bullets connected on their final two attempts, with sophomore Samantha Esposito (Portage, Mich./Portage Central) striking to make it 3-1 before Cuttone's clincher.
 
It was the fourth year in a row Gettysburg had a postseason match decided by PKs after dropping shootouts in the 2013 and 2015 Centennial Conference playoffs and the 2014 NCAA Division III tournament.
 
Neither side was able to generate much offense in the opening half, when the Fords held a 5-3 shot advantage. Esposito took the only shot on goal, which was saved by Prescott in the 17th minute. Haverford's best chance to score came in the 34th minute when Ellenburg hit the crossbar, and the Bullets barely missed converting on a free kick when freshman Isabel Klatt's (Garden City, N.Y./Garden City) header sailed just left with less than nine minutes left in the period.
 
Haverford opened the scoring six minutes into the second half, when Katie Safter snuck a shot just under the crossbar from the corner of the box. But the Bullets responded eight minutes later. Bushey served a perfect cross from deep in the right wing, finding Bradley streaking down the left side of the field. Bradley headed home the ball at the left post for her second goal in three matches, making it 1-1 in the 59th minute.
 
Loftus helped keep the Fords off the scoreboard twice midway through the half, swatting away a well-struck ball in the 61st minute before snuffing out a header on Haverford corner kick five minutes later.
 
The Bullets took the lead in the 71st minute on a goal that was similar to their first tally. Bushey accepted a throw-in and delivered another cross from the right side of the field. This one found Miesemer, who blasted in a shot from the left side to put the Orange and Blue up 2-1. The goal was Miesemer's third of the season, placing her in a tie for the team lead.
 
The Fords struck back in the 80th minute, when Sofia Licata chipped in a shot from the right side of the box and into the upper-left corner of the net, making it 2-2.
 
Loftus made a pair of tremendous saves over the final eight minutes of regulation, diving to make one stop before leaping high to swat away a long-range free kick in the 88th minute.
 
Haverford outshot the Bullets 4-1 in the first overtime, when Licata hit the crossbar in the 94th minute. Neither side managed a shot in the second extra session.