ERIE, Pa. – The Penn State Behrend women’s soccer team scored two goals in the first half and added an insurance goal in the second defeat La Roche 3-1 in the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) semifinals on Wednesday.
With the win, the Lions (13-5-1) advance to the conference finals and will travel to top-seed Penn State Altoona on Saturday to battle it out for the AMCC title at 2 p.m. The winner will earn the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Three different players scored for Behrend, while Robin Siegenthaler tallied four saves in the win. Jaclyn Stottlemyer got the Lions on the board first. She blasted a shot from 20-yards out and caught a lucky bounce that sent the ball through the hands of Ralene Zajac for a 1-0 lead in the first 10 minutes of the game.
Lindsey Steinsdoerfer put Behrend ahead 2-0 with an unassisted goal in the 27th minute. With the Redhawks pulling the offsides trap throughout the first half, Steinsdoerfer managed to get a break and score off a one-on-one situation with Zajac. She had Zajac dive to the left and had a wide-open goal to make it a two-goal lead.
Seven minutes later, Bethanie Morsechi tallied her conference-leading 23rd goal with a header off a corner kick sent in by Erica Pitacciato to cut the deficit to 2-1.
After many scoring opportunities taken by the Lions, Dana Saunders grabbed the rebound off a save made on Sam Vasy’s original shot for a 3-1 lead that would not relinquish.
