#3 Pitt-Bradford and #4 Mount Aloysius College each picked up a victory in the first round of the AMCC women's soccer tournament on Saturday afternoon. The Panthers and the Mounties will now advance to the semifinals, to be played on Wednesday.
#3 Pitt-Bradford 1, #6 La Roche 0
The Pitt-Bradford and La Roche women battled it out in the first round of the AMCC playoffs, playing even in nearly every facet of the game, with a late deflected goal by the Panthers giving them the narrow victory.
La Roche forced Bradford junior goalkeeper Sarah Dailey to work early and often. They recorded ten first half shots and five forced Bradford saves. La Roche junior forward Vanessa Ceravolo slipped through the Panther defense time after time over the first forty-five minutes but each time Dailey was there to deflect to ball out of harm's way.
Redhawk sophomore goalkeeper Jessica Welka was just as impressive on the other side of the field. Welka stymied the Bradford offense with four stops in the first half and five in the second.
The game's lone goal came off of a deflected corner kick in the seventy-eighth minute by sophomore midfielder Megan Stuck to give Bradford the win. Following the goal, La Roche blasted three shots on net but none of them became the equalizer.
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#4 Mount Aloysius 3, #5 Hilbert 2
The Mount Aloysius women's soccer team recorded their first playoff win in program history with a 3-2 victory over Hilbert on Saturday afternoon in the opening round of the AMCC playoffs.
In the 29th minute of action, Mountie sophomore forward Amanda Brancato made a great run to the back post and after cutting past a defender knocked in a goal to give Mount Aloysius the 1-0 advantage. The visiting Hawks' junior defender Brooklynn Gormel scored with six seconds remaining in the first half off of a loose ball on a free kick to even the game heading into halftime.
The Mounties controlled play in the early stages of the second half. Five minutes into the second session, sophomore midfielder Jordan Gebhart found Katie Mirance with a through ball and the freshman winger buried a shot to give Mount Aloysius a 2-1 advantage. The home side increased the lead in the 67th minute after Gebhart drew a foul in the box. Freshman defender/midfielder Summer Schell stepped up to the penalty kick spot and increased the Mountie lead to 3-1. Hilbert cut the deficit to 3-2 with 13 minutes remaining in the game, when senior Imarie Waller found the back of the net, but the Mounties held strong defensively to register the win.
The Mounties outshot the Hawks 19-6 and held a 6-1 advantage in corner kick opportunities. Zara Apakoh made five saves to notch the win in goal.