Lady Lions struggle against Brandywine

By: Matylda Zamudio

New Brighton, Pa. -- The Penn State Beaver women's soccer team played in the team's first of two back-to-back home games against conference rival Penn State Brandywine on Saturday afternoon. The ladies are coming into the game after winning their first conference game against Penn State Mont Alto last Wednesday, and the team currently sits at a 2-4 overall record for the season.

In the first period, the ladies struggled on offense, turning the ball over frequently in mid-field. Brandywine overwhelmed Beaver's defenders around by the team's net. The ladies grew frustrated and received four foul calls in the first 16 minutes. One minute later, Brandywine capitalized on Beaver's frustration and made a shot at Beaver's goal, but was saved by goalie Brittany Zahn. 10 seconds later, Brandywine scored a goal, putting Beaver down 0-1. The ladies continued to struggle with ball possession in the midfield, and Brandywine, once again, placed itself in scoring range of Beaver's net. 23 minutes into the game, Brandywine scored another goal. Beaver felt the pressure of Brandywine's offense and allowed the victors to score another goal before wrapping up the first half of the game.

The obstacles for the first half were replicated for Beaver in the latter half, as the team kept offering up possession of the ball in midfield. The Lady Lions looked complacent as the ladies of Brandywine easily made their way down to the 18-yard line and scored their fourth goal 13 minutes into the second half. Despite seven saves from Zahn, Brandywine went on to score two more goals and handed Beaver a final score loss of 0-6.

While the ladies suffered a tough conference loss tonight, they will another shot at the conference on Saturday, Sept. 29, where they will face off against Penn State Hazleton on the road. The game starts at 4 p.m.