KUTZTOWN, Pa. - No. 25 Bloomsburg women's soccer suffered its second defeat of the season at the hands of Kutztown Saturday afternoon.

The Huskies (6-2-2, 3-2-2 PSAC East) fell victim to an unfortunate deflection that favored the home side. Despite going back and forth with the Golden Bears (6-3, 4-3 PSAC East) for most of the contest, Bloomsburg could not find a beneficial bounce in its favor to find an answer in the 1-0 result. 

How It Happened:
The Huskies came up empty in a mass flurry of chances that came before the lone goal of the contest. Olivia Thompson (Pottstown, Pa./Owen J. Roberts) took two cracks at goal, first nearly redirecting a ball making way in the box with a poke before a shot from distance aimed inside the near post was parried to keep Bloosmburg off the board. From a pair of corners, Thompson had another chance with a redirect after a ball played into the box by Madelyn Blake (Bloomsburg, Pa./Central Columbia) deflected off the keeper to the forward, but with not enough time to fire off a clean look before a defender closed down. 

Unfortunately, a bad situation turned worse for Bloomsburg in the buildup to the goal. As the Huskies looked to have regained possession in the midfield, a hard challenge through the back of a Husky went without a whistle. With the ball up for grabs, Kutztown's leading scorer, Corinne Morgan, got control and managed to get position on two Bloomsburg defenders. Morgan squared the ball parallel to the end line, and with a teammate running toward the front post, deflected up and back off the front foot on an interception by a Husky defender and into the net to give the Golden Bears the lead.

With both teams looking to find pockets of momentum, it was Kutztown that nearly threatened to double its lead. The Golden Bears had a series of three corner kicks in three minutes. In between those set pieces, Morgan nearly doubled her tally and Kutztown's lead, but was denied by a nice save from goalkeeper Samantha Merklin (Effort, Pa./Pleasant Valley). On the final corner kick in the run for the Golden Bears, Skyler Jordan, with hands on her defender's shoulders at the back post, put a header into the side netting. The offensive swing petered out in the last 15 minutes of the opening half, with one combined shot between the sides. 

The limited opportunities for both teams continued into the second half as over 15 minutes passed without many tests for either goalkeeper. Both teams continued to lean into their game plans on both sides of the field, with Kutztown's adjustments keeping Bloomsburg from creating the clear chances out and in that it desired. In the end, the momentum and flow of the game were dictated by both teams being able to get the ball out of harm's way when needed. After the full 90 minutes, one untimely sequence was all it took to hand the Huskies their defeat. 

On the Horizon:
Bloomsburg women's soccer begins a three-game home stretch at Steph Pettit Stadium on Wednesday, October 8, at 6:00 p.m., beginning the second half of PSAC action with Shippensburg.