BLOOMSBURG, Pa. – Despite a great effort in the second half by the Bloomsburg University women's soccer team, the Huskies fell to West Chester in a tightly contested Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) game by a final tally of 3-1 on Saturday at Steph Pettit Stadium.
The Huskies (3-1, 1-1 PSAC East) fell behind to the Golden Rams (3-0, 2-0 PSAC East) in the closing seconds of the first half as West Chester scored the first goal of the contest with 22 seconds remaining on the clock before halftime. The Golden Rams scored the goal when Kaitlynn Haughey sent a cross into the box that was cleanly played by Julia Raybold, who sent the ball into the net for the score.
In the second half, West Chester extended their lead to 2-0 about 10 minutes in when Haughey received a cross in the box and was able to strike it out of the air with her right foot and into the net with 34:48 remaining on the clock. The score gave the Golden Rams a comfortable two-goal lead, but that's when the Huskies began to put the pressure on in their attacking end of the field.
Following West Chester's goal, Bloomsburg was able to rattle off five clean shots over the course of the next 15 minutes, and the fifth shot was good enough to get the Huskies on the scoreboard and cut the deficit in half by making the score 2-1. The score came during a corner kick as
Amanda Stoll (Farmingdale, N.Y./Farmingdale) was able to rise above several defenders to strike a header past West Chester's goalkeeper and in for the goal as the ball snuck into the net near the far post. Stoll received the long lob pass from teammate
Aubrey Hondros (Richboro, Pa./Council Rock South), who took the corner kick.
Nine minutes after Stoll's goal, West Chester threatened to score again when Faith Matter gathered the ball and put a nice shot on goal from just outside the box. Husky goalkeeper
Riley Spingler (Langhorne, Pa./Neshaminy), who was solid all game, kept the deficit to one goal as she made a clutch save and held on to end West Chester's scoring threat.
Bloomsburg had its best opportunity to tie the game up when it received a corner kick with under three minutes to play in the half. West Chester's goalkeeper, however, was able to keep the Huskies off the scoreboard as she high pointed Bloomsburg's corner kick and grabbed it to change the possession.
On West Chester's ensuing possession, Alyson Cutter stretched the team's lead to 3-1 when she won possession of a free ball in Husky territory and scored in an open net as Spingler was caught coming out of the net trying to defend on the play.
Bloomsburg will look to rebound on Wednesday with another PSAC East contest as the team heads to Shepherd (2-1-1, 1-1 PSAC East) to take on the Rams.
