TOLEDO, OH ? Ali Leak scored a hat trick and Molly Cornwell added a goal and three assists to lead Toledo to a 5-1 victory over Detroit on Friday at Scott Park. With today's victory, the Rockets improve to 1-1-1 on the season and 7-5-1 all-time in home openers.
Toledo started fast and scored just 3:56 into the match on Leak's first goal of the season. Cornwell setup the game's initial tally by beating a Detroit defender down the sideline and perfectly crossing the ball to her wide open classmate, who promptly headed into the back of the net.
Detroit kept the match close for a while and knotted the score at 1-1 on a goal by Trina Kochanski at 16:28. Teammate Alauna Pierce, who was credited with the assist, sent a through ball past the UT defense to Kochanski and she slid a shot out of the reach of diving UT freshman goalkeeper Angela Righeimer for the equalizer.
The Rockets quickly reorganized after giving up the equalizer and scored four unanswered goals to claim their first victory of the 2007 campaign. Almost like a replay of the first goal, Cornwell set up Leak for the eventual game-winning score at 19:01. Cornwell beat a pair of UD defenders in the middle of the field and chipped the ball over the Titans' last line of defense. Leak quickly ran onto the ball and beat UD goalkeeper Katie Fortenberry uphigh to make it 2-1 at the intermission.
Cornwell and the Rockets kept the pressure on to start the final 45 minutes and the Pickerington, OH native registered her third goal of the season at 46:35. The 2006 second-team All-MAC performer made an incredible run over 50 yards with the ball and slid a shot past the keeper to establish a two-goal advantage.
The score would hold until the 65th minute when Cornwell and Leak connected for a third and final time. Cornwell crossed the ball into the middle of the UD goalbox from the endline to a wide open Leak, who crushed a shot into the back of the net for the score. With that goal, Leak became only the fifth player in school history to tally at least three tallies in a single match and the first in almost 10 seasons. The school record for goals in a match is four by Amanda Brown against St. Francis on Sept. 6, 1997.
UT freshman Sarah Blake then finished off the scoring at 74:57 with her first collegiate tally. Blake weaved her way through the Detroit defense, beating a handful of defenders before pounding a low shot past the goalkeeper to make the final score, 5-1.
Besides the outstanding performances of Leak and Cornwell, another deciding factor in today's match-up was UT's effectiveness in using its reserves. The Rockets were able to wear down the Titans by using 20 players in the match, compated to only 14 for the Titans.
UT outshot the Titans, 17-8, while Righeimer and sophomore Andrea Plewes finished with a total of two saves between the posts.
The Rockets return to action on Sunday and host Wright State in non-conference action. The opening whistle is slated for 1:00 p.m.
TOLEDO 5, Detroit 1
UT: A. Leak (M. Cornwell), 3:56
UD: T. Kochanski (A. Pierce), 16:28
UT: A. Leak (M. Cornwell), 19:01
UT: M. Cornwell (Unassisted), 46:35
UT: A. Leak (M. Cornwell), 64:40
UT: S. Blake (Unassisted), 74:57
SHOTS: UT 17, UD 8
SAVES: UT 2, UD 4
CORNER KICKS: UT 2, UD 1
FOULS: UT 22, UD 7
