SCRANTON, Pa. – Catholic field hockey remained undefeated in Landmark Conference play with a 2-1 victory over No. 25 Scranton on Saturday afternoon. 

Tess Hake and Niki Micciche scored while Ella Bowman made a huge penalty stroke stop to help propel the Cardinals their first win over the Royals since 2018.

Hake put the Cardinals on the board with the opening goal of the contest in the second quarter. Oli Bond started the play by clearing the ball out of the defensive zone and across the midfield line. Hake collected the pass in space and streaked up the sidelines to initiated a fast break. The freshman beat one defender outside of the circle and dodged another as she approached the cage before flinging a shot past the goalkeeper's left shoulder and into the top corner. The goal marked Hake's first of her collegiate career.

Catholic held the lead into halftime but Scranton found an equalizer five minutes into the third quarter. Bridget Abraldes kept the ball at her stick in traffic and found Lydia Bechtel in front for a straight-away goal. 

As the third quarter dwindled down and the score still knotted at one, the Royals were awarded a penalty stroke after Catholic committed a serious foul within the striking circle. Scranton's Annie Shaw stepped up to the penalty spot for a one-on-one opportunity with Bowman. Shaw sent her shot left but Bowman read it the whole way and extended her right leg to stop the attempt. 

The Cardinals converted what would end up being the game-winner with 13 minutes left in regulation. A foul by the Royals just outside the circle allowed Catholic time to run into the zone and initiate its offense. Sophia Conners sprinted to put the ball back in play and sent a cross to Micciche who was positioned in front of her defender. Micciche redirected the pass to the opposite side of the cage for the go-ahead goal.

The Catholic defense lead by senior captain Emma Shallow came through with timely takeaways and key blocks down the stretch. They faced 18 shots and disrupted 10 penalty corners to mitigate threatening scoring opportunities from their opponents. 

Head coach Rachel Palumbo picked up her first win against the Royals in her four-year tenure at the helm. Scranton's only other loss of the season came back in August to eleventh-ranked York. 

Catholic welcomes No. 5 Christopher Newport to Cardinal Stadium on Wednesday, October 9 for its final non-conference contest of the season. The match is set to start at 5:30 p.m.