Despite a late rally from the Towson Generals, the Hereford Bulls held on to win, 9-7, in a game between two teams who came in unbeaten in Baltimore County.
Trailing by four with under three minutes remaining, the Generals scored two late goals but were unable to complete the comeback as the Bulls held on.
“We are fortunate to come out with a win,” Hereford head coach Kelly Swift said. “They are a very good team, we knew we had to play our best and they challenged us today. Without a doubt, they were coached extremely well, and like I said, we were fortunate to come out with a W today.”
The Bulls (9-1, 7-0 Baltimore County) were led by Jordan Peterson and Lindsey Moneymaker, each scoring three goals. Moneymaker opened the game with a goal and Peterson scored back-to-back goals midway through the first half.
Moneymaker scored two goals in the first five minutes of the second half. Cam Kauffman also scored two goals for Hereford, her second extended the Bulls’ lead to three with under five minutes left.
“For Cam, she’s a freshman and she’s got one speed, and that’s fast, and that’s what she did for us today,” Swift said. “She put the ball in the cage. Same with our other two middies, when they go to the cage they go hard, and they don’t stop until they put that ball in the cage.”
The Generals were led by Gabi Galvez with three goals. She scored two in the first half and her third came less than a minute into the second half, tying the game at 3.
“Gabi single-handedly brought us back into this game,” Towson head coach Taylor Carhart said. “She played amazing, she played outstanding today. Single-handedly brought us back into the game.”
The scoring came at a much faster pace in the second half than the first where goals were few and far between. After Moneymaker’s opening goal, it was nearly five minutes before Peterson put the Bulls up 2-0.
Galvez scored and Peterson another before the teams went through another scoring drought that lasted the last five minutes of the half and left Hereford up 3-2 at the break.
The second half was a different story as the teams combined for 11 goals. They went back-and-forth for the first 15 minutes of the half exchanging goals before the Bulls went on a 3-0 run to take a three-goal lead with less than five minutes left.
“At halftime we got to regroup a little bit, especially on offense,” Swift said. “We were shooting it a lot at the goalie on her stick side and we needed to adjust that. I think that’s part of it is, our girls started working better on their shot selection.”
During this run, Kauffman, Peterson and Katie Burks scored for Hereford. Towson scored the final two goals of the game as Brigid Vaikness and Jillian McNulty found the net.
Kara Janishefski and Finlay Harman each scored one goal for the Generals. Goalie Lucy Buttarazzi started for Towson and made five saves. MK McGonigle started in goal for Hereford and made six saves including five in the first half.
“I thought we fought hard until the very end of the game,” Carhart said. “I couldn’t have asked my team for a better effort towards the end.”
With the win, the Bulls extend their winning streak to five games. They have also won each of their last four games by two or more goals. On the other side, the Generals (8-2, 6-1) have lost two in a row after beginning the season 8-0.
