Women’s soccer wins opener, falls to Penn State

The Panther women’s soccer team got its season underway with a 2-1 victory over host St…. The Panther women’s soccer team got its season underway with a 2-1 victory over host St. Francis (Pa.) Friday evening. The win notched the first victory of the season and was a total team effort.

Senior midfielder Lauren Sciocchetti, from Wailingford, Pa., got the Panthers on the board first when a rebound was cleared the wrong way and came to her foot, where she put away her second career goal at the 13:48 mark of the game. In the 30th minute of the game, St. Francis struck back with its only goal of the contest, a 30-yard chip shot from junior Tia Hernandez to knot the score at one apiece.

After almost a full half of scoreless soccer, sophomore Cara Senger found an open Jacqueline Reuter, and Reuter put it away in the left corner of the net during the 83rd minute of the game. The goal marked Reuter’s first career goal and was the game winner.

Freshman goalkeeper Jamie Pelusi recorded her first career collegiate victory in the game while stopping five Red Flash shots on net. Coach Roland Sturk was very pleased with the effort of his freshman goalkeeper.

“I am very excited with Jamie’s play,” Sturk said. “It’s a huge confidence builder knowing we can get consistent play in net.”

The Panthers outshot St. Francis 21-15 and also took the edge in the corner kick department, 7-5.

Sunday afternoon the Panthers took on a highly skilled No. 6 Penn State team and, despite their best efforts, Penn State’s relentless offense defeated Pitt 7-2.

“The score didn’t really reflect the overall effort and pace of the game,” Sturk said. “We got off to a slow start, and that was a big factor in the loss.”

Sciocchetti netted both the Panther goals and accounted for three of the Panthers’ four goals last weekend. The first came unassisted in the 19th minute of play with a breakdown of Penn State’s defense as Sciocchetti pounded the ball past its keeper. Later in the 56th minute of play, Sciocchetti found the net again on a breakaway for her fourth career goal.

Pelusi again turned in a strong game in goal, stopping six of the Nittany Lions’ shots on net.

Penn State took the edge in shots, 19-5, while Pitt maintained a better shooting percentage for the game.

The team will return to action Friday night against Duquesne. Game time is set for 7 p.m. at Founder’s Field. On Sunday, the team will play host to Lehigh University with game time set for 1 p.m.