Gaston's First Goal Pushes Violets Into Engineering Cup Final

Katie Gaston's first collegiate goal was also the game-winner Saturday.

Katie Gaston's first career goal snapped a 2-2 deadlock and lifted New York University to a 3-2 victory over Ursinus College in the Sixth Annual Stevens Institute of Technology Engineering Cup on a rainy Saturday afternoon in Hoboken, NJ.

Gaston parried a cross from 40 yards out that caromed off the turf inside the 18 and bounced over the goalkeeper's head at 75:41, derailing an Ursinus (1-2) comeback from two goals down and earning the Violets a chance to capture their second-straight Engineering Cup championship.

NYU (3-1) will face Allegheny College, a 2-0 victor over Stevens Tech, for the title Sunday at 2:30 p.m.

In all essence, all three of the Violets' scoring plays came off rarely seen chances. NYU took a 1-0 lead at 18:27 after an attempted Ursinus clear of a hard cross by Lucy Dolly Caires was redirected across the Bears' goal line.

A takedown in the box 3:06 into the second half resulted in Erica Jones converting a penalty kick for her first collegiate score, staking the Violets to a seemingly safe 2-0 lead.

However, Ursinus rallied with tallies by Megan Ascensio (58:58) and Diana Wijtyk (73:01) to forge a 2-2 deadlock before Gaston's cross bounced across the goal line and extended NYU's winning streak to three games.

Overall, NYU outshot the Bears 13-9 and owned a 6-4 edge on corner kicks. Rachael Ross made one save to earn the win, while Ursinus' Justine Harvey stopped six shots.