ERIE, Pa. – The Penn State Behrend women's soccer team became the first team in Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) history to win six straight championships, defeating Pitt-Greensburg 6-1 in the title game on Saturday afternoon.
The Lions (16-4) posted their largest margin of victory in an AMCC Championship game, breaking a 1-all tie at halftime with five second-half goals for the program's 12th conference crown in the 20-year history of the AMCC.
Olivia Belack (Upper St. Clair, PA/Upper St. Clair) and Alex Bilka (Cranberry Township, PA/Seneca Valley) each tallied two goals, while Belack also added an assist to set a new school record for most assists in a season with 12.
Behrend struck first in the 28th minute. After coming close in a dozen shots, Belack blasted a shot that Kaitlyn Watson was able to make a deflected save, but Bilka was on the other end of that shot waiting to get the first goal for the Lions.
Brianna Burgunder managed to get Pitt-Greensburg on the scoreboard with the Bobcats first shot. Rachel Steinmark played a ball down the middle of the box and Burgunder tucked her shot past Sam Morlacci (Apollo, PA/Shady Side Academy) with 4:54 left in the half to knot the game at 1-all.
The second half was similar to the regular-season meeting between the two teams. The Lions tallied five unanswered goals, getting two goals from Belack and a goal and assist from Bilka and Jordan Oberlander (Waterford, PA/Fort LeBoeuf).
Oberlander tallied the eventual game winner seven minutes into the second half, finishing a shot into the lower left corner of the net on a pass from Bilka.
Behrend scored four more goals in a 15-minute span. Leah Morra (Pittsburgh, PA/North Hills) and Megan Schwartz (Shaler, PA/Shaler) assisted Belack on her two goals of the half to put the junior forward at 20 goals for the season and one goal away from tying the single-season goals.
Oberlander, Laura Schaefer (Erie, PA/General McLane) and Sami Lowry (Pittsburgh, PA/Pine-Richland) were named to the AMCC All-Tournament Team for the efforts today and against Mt. Aloysius in the semifinals.
The Lions earned the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Behrend's next opponent will be determined on the NCAA Selection Show set for Monday afternoon.
