ALTOONA, Pa. – The fourth-seeded Penn State Altoona women's soccer team started its Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference Tournament run with an emphatic victory on Saturday afternoon, shutting out fifth seed Hilbert College 7-0 at Spring Run Stadium.

With the win, Penn State Altoona (6-6-5) advances to the semifinal round of the tournament, and the Lions will travel to face top seed Pitt-Greensburg for their next game on Wednesday, November 2 at 2:00 p.m.

Sadie McConnell (New Enterprise, PA/Northern Bedford) scored a goal and added three assists for Penn State Altoona, tying for the second-most assists in a game in Lions history, while Hailey Yaletsko (Philadelphia, PA/Philadelphia Academy Charter) scored two goals.

Mallorie Smith (Bellefonte, PA/Bellefonte) and Rachel Rutkowski (Canonsburg, PA/Canon-McMillan) each finished with a goal and an assist, and Schenley Farrell (Philipsburg, PA/Philipsburg-Osceola) and Jordan Yaletsko (Philadelphia, PA/Philadelphia Academy Charter) added one goal each.

Adeline Baustert (Apollo, PA/Apollo-Ridge) made three stops between the pipes for Penn State Altoona to notch her sixth win of the season and fifth shutout.

After both teams got off to a slow start, Penn State Altoona finally put a goal on the board at the 27:36 mark. Smith sent a pass ahead to McConnell, who received it in Hilbert (6-8-3) territory, dribbled into the box, and kicked a shot through the keeper's legs for her second goal of the season.

The Lions' 1-0 advantage remained until midway through the second half, when Penn State Altoona broke the game open with a flurry of goals.

In the 63rd minute, McConnell sailed a pass into the box, where Jordan Yaletsko tapped a shot past the keeper from deep inside the box to double Penn State Altoona's lead at 62:44. The goal was Yaletsko's second of the season.

The Lions struck again less than a minute later to increase their lead to 3-0. McConnell dribbled to the end line and centered a pass into the box, where Smith took it and sent a shot into the bottom left corner of the goal at 63:38 to give Penn State Altoona a three-goal advantage. The tally was Smith's team-leading 11th of the year.

Exactly seven minutes later, Rutkowski scored her first collegiate goal to add to the home team's total. McConnell passed the ball to Rutkowski from the right sideline, and Rutkowski looped a long shot overtop the keeper at 70:38 for her first career goal, making it 4-0.

Just over two minutes after that, Penn State Altoona upped its lead to 5-0. Rutkowski sent the ball to the left of the Hilbert goal, and Farrell collected it and fired a shot into the open goal from short range to give the Lions' a five-goal advantage at the 73:05 mark. The score was Farrell's fifth of the season.

Hailey Yaletsko scored her first collegiate goal at the 78:30 mark, when she headed a deflection into the right side of the goal from six yards away. Yaletsko struck again in the 90th minute, when Kiley Johnes (West Point, NY/James I. O'Neill) placed a pass into the right side of the box, and Yaletsko scored on a shot from 10 yards to set Penn State Altoona's lead at 7-0 at 89:17. Johnes' assist on the play was her first collegiate point.

Penn State Altoona finished the day with dominant statistical advantages over Hilbert in shot attempts (26-10), shots on goal (13-3), and corner kicks (7-3). The Lions' total of seven goals is tied for the fourth-most in a game in program history.

McConnell led all players in the game with three shots on goal, while Rutkowski and Hailey Yaletsko each had two shots on goal.