Pitt-Greensburg outlasts Behrend Women's Soccer in the AMCC Championships

Courtsey of John Leisering 

GREENSBURG, Pa. - No. 1 seed and host Pitt Greensburg avenged its 2021 loss to Penn State Behrend in the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) title game with a 3-2 overtime win over the No 2-seeded Lions Saturday afternoon. The victory propels the Bobcats (16-3-1) into the NCAA Tournament. The Division III Pairings will be announced Monday afternoon. The Lions, who dropped the regular season meeting between the teams 3-1 in Erie two weeks ago, fell to 8-10-1.

The Bobcats never trailed in the contest but could not put the Lions away until the second overtime. Senior Jenna Conty gave the Bobcats a 1-0 lead 14 minutes in when she scored her first goal of the season, set up by senior Ashley Lucas who collected her team-leading 10th assist and 44th point. Sophomore Trinity Prestash (Phillipsburg, PA/West Branch) knotted the game at
1-1 later at 33:54 with her team-high 15th goal of the campaign.

Lucas cashed her 18th at 59:32, but the resilient Prestash scored her second of the contest at 85:22 to force overtime. After a scoreless first 10-minute extra session, freshman Maya Wertelet ended the affair with her ninth of the year early in the second OT at 101:34. She was helped by sophomore Logan Jennings. Behrend outshot Pitt-Greensburg 22-12 in the contest. The Bobcats had one more corner, 8-7.

Behrend's trio of Emily Clopp (Pittsburgh, PA/Canon McMillan), Karla Ochoa (Edinburg, TX/IDEA Toros College Preparatory) and Prestash made the All-Tournament team.

Prestash, who had only one goal in her first nine games this year, talled 15 markers in her next ten, including seven goals in her last three. Lucas, who had a six-game goal-scoring streak snapped last Wednesday (10 goals), got the Bobcats second score Saturday. Pitt Greensburg has now outscored its 2022 opponents 69-14. Wertelet's OT game-winner was her third GWG in 2022. The Bobcats are now 8-1-1 at home; Behrend 4-6-1 on the road.