#4 MOUNT ALOYSIUS, #6 PENN STATE ALTOONA EARN FIRST ROUND VICTORIES

October 28, 2023

No. 4 Mount Aloysius College and No. 6 Penn State Altoona each earned wins in the first round of the AMCC Women's Soccer Championship Tournament on Saturday afternoon. The Mounties defeated La Roche University 3-1, while Penn State Altoona earned the 3-0 upset over #3 Hilbert College.

Mount Aloysius 3, La Roche 1
No. 4 Mount Aloysius defeated No. 5 La Roche 3-1 in their first round matchup to advance to the semifinals on Wednesday evening. Mount Aloysius opened up the scoring at the 21:32 mark when junior midfielder Jasmine Hinton connected on an unassisted shot to put the Mounties up 1-0. La Roche tied the game at 54:43 when freshman forward Finnleigh Gould found the back of the net, as Redhawk Alexis Nudds got credit for the assist, as the teams ended the first half knotted at 1-all. At the 68:01 mark, sophomore F Natalie Despot put the Mounties up 2-1, as Hinton earned the assist on the play. Senior midfielder Katie Figinski gave Mount Aloysius an insurance goal, as she got the ball from Brooke Thomas, recording her 12th goal of the season and setting the final score at 3-1. Courtney Vought earned the win in goal, playing all 90 minutes and making eight saves on the day.

With the win, the Mounties will advance to the AMCC semifinals and will travel to Erie, PA to take on No. 1 seed Penn State Behrend on Wednesday at 4pm.

Penn State Altoona 3, Hilbert 0
Penn State Altoona got two goals from Mallorie Smith and one from Sophia Nelson in its victory. Nicole Schwartz started at goalkeeper and made six saves between the pipes to record her fifth win and second shutout of the season.

The Lions broke a scoreless tie at the 36:15 mark, when Smith scored her 14th goal of the season to put Penn State Altoona on the board. Penn State Altoona tacked two more goals on to its total during the second half to put the game out of reach. Nelson found the back of the net for the third time this season at 72:13 to make it 2-0, and Smith scored her second of the game and 15th of the year at 89:48 to increase the Lions' advantage to 3-0 in the closing seconds.

With the win, Penn State Altoona advances to the AMCC Tournament semifinal round and will face No. 2 seed Pitt-Greensburg on Wednesday at 7 p.m.