Allie Califano said she had never scored a late game-winning goal quite like this one in field hockey or lacrosse, which she plays at Muhlenberg, or had a game-winning shot in basketball, which she played through high school.
In recent Mule field hockey history, neither had anyone else.
Califano’s last-minute goal against Gettysburg is Muhlenberg’s play of the week. With the teams tied at 2-2 in last Friday’s game, the Mules were awarded a penalty corner with under a minute to play. Kayleigh Thies received the insertion, dribbled into the circle and passed the ball into the middle. Califano, waiting with her back to the goal, spun and one-timed the ball into the back of the cage for her first career goal with just 23.3 seconds remaining.
Click here to watch the video: Gettysburg game-winning goal
The win was an important one, putting Muhlenberg into sole possession of fourth place in the Centennial Conference with two league games remaining. Had Gettysburg won the game, the Mules would have been tied for fifth place and in a mad scramble for one of the five playoff spots.
Muhlenberg’s archives do not report the times of goals scored until 1995. Since then, Califano’s dramatic score was only the second game-winner in the final minute of regulation, and the first in the last half-minute. Here are the top 10 latest Mule game-winning goals since 1995, ranked by time remaining:
- :23.3, Allie Califano vs. Gettysburg, 2013
- :53, Jess Kasza vs. Haverford, 2009
- 1:04, Kelly Gower vs. FDU-Madison, 1998
- 1:11, Jess Kasza vs. Washington, 2009
- 1:19, Beth Hughes vs. King’s, 1998
- 2:06, Nicki Notarianni vs. Widener, 2009
- 2:10, Kristen Bruschi vs. Washington, 2002
- 2:28, Laura Diez vs. Gettysburg, 2002
- 3:12, Tara Cohn vs. Elizabethtown, 2009
- 3:50, LisaAnn Polt vs. Susquehanna, 2003