Women's Soccer Downs La Roche; Lions Advance To AMCC Semifinals

ERIE, Pa.  – Alex Bilka (Cranberry Township, PA/Seneca Valley) registered six points with two goals and two assists to lead Penn State Behrend past La Roche 4-1 in the first round of the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) Tournament on Saturday.

The win marks the 12^th time this season the Lions (14-5-1) have won by three or more goals, including twice against the Redhawks. Behrend is now 8-1 all-time against La Roche in the AMCC Tournament. The Lions continue their quest for their fourth straight AMCC Championships on Wednesday at No. 2 Franciscan in the semifinals.

Behrend took a 1-0 lead into halftime thanks to Olivia Belack's (Upper St. Clair, PA/Upper St. Clair) goal in the 12^th minute off an endline pass from Bilka. The Lions added three more unanswered goals in the second half before La Roche got on the scoreboard.

Just 2:33 into the second half, Bilka sent the same exact pass like the one in the first half to Belack but this time to Shelby Lloyd (Beaver, PA/Beaver) for a one-touch shot and 2-0 lead.

Bilka then found the back of the net with a sliding shot on a pass from Leah Morra in the 51^st minute, before connecting with Jordan Oberlander (Waterford, PA/Fort LeBoeuf) at the 67:03 mark for a 4-0 advantage.

Behrend did not allow a Redhawk shot in the first half and only two for the remainder of the game. The first shot was in the 60^th and the second was a goal by Vanessa Ceravolo with 19 minutes left.

Destiney Davis made 14 saves for La Roche on 33 shots taken by the Lions.

Behrend returns to action on Wednesday at Franciscan, beginning at 2 p.m.