Beaver become 2015 PSUAC Champs!

By: Haley Paul

State College, PA - Beaver defeats Brandywine to become the 2015 PSUAC Champions.

Sunday afternoon, the Lady Lions of Beaver traveled to State College to take on Penn State Brandywine in the PSUAC Championship game. Beaver prepared for this game all season, giving it their all to earn one final win in the 2015 season.

Kicking off the game was Brandywine, with an early goal in the 8th minute to take a 1-0 lead.  However, just before the end of the first half, freshman Marissa Bucklen (Hookstown, PA/ South Side Beaver) scored off of a long pass with a shot to the upper left corner of the net to tie the game at 1-1 in the 42nd minute.

Both teams were held scoreless through regulation despite a total of 11 shots in the second half.  With the score still at 1-1 through 90 minutes, the game saw its first overtime period.  In the first overtime both teams played solid defense.  Beaver held Brandywine to just two shots in the ten minute period as they kept them off the board.  As they moved into the second overtime period, Beaver was able to manage 3 shots, but could not score.  

After battling for 110 minutes, the score remained tied at 1-1, both teams taking 14 total shots in the game.  With the teams evenly matched, it seemed fitting that the game would be decided in a shootout.

Beaver was up first, represented by freshman Sadie Stillwagon (Freedom, PA/ Freedom), who opened up the scoring to give Beaver the 1-0 shootout lead.  After a missed shot by Brandywine, freshman Cortney Harden (Beaver Falls, PA/ Riverside), netted her shot to give Beaver the 2-0 shootout lead.  Following a second Brandywine miss, junior Jessica Spina (Jefferson Hills, PA/ Thomas Jefferson), had her shot blocked, leaving the score at 2-0.  Brandywine again followed with their third missed shot.  Next up was freshman Brittany Zahn (New Brighton, PA/ New Brighton), who was also in goal for Beaver.  Despite missing her shot, she was successful in shutting out Brandywine in the shootout to give Beaver the 2-0 shootout victory.

The Lady Lions end their season with an overall record of 8-7-1 and a PSUAC record of 6-3 to earn their 1st conference championship.