BLOOMSBURG, Pa. - The No. 22 Bloomsburg women's soccer team fought to its first draw of the season with a 1-1 result against RV West Chester Saturday evening.  

The Huskies (5-0-1, 2-0-1 PSAC East) faced a full-throttle attack from a Golden Rams (2-1-2, 0-1-2 PSAC East) side looking to recover from their first defeat of conference play. Samantha Merklin (Effort, Pa./Pleasant Valley) kept Bloomsburg knotted up with West Chester through almost the entirety of the first half, recording eight saves through the first 45 minutes. Freshman Katie Reynolds (Harrisburg, Pa./Central Dauphin) found the back of the net for the first time in her career, perfectly placing a long-range strike into the top-right corner to give the Huskies a 1-0 lead at the half.

The Golden Rams eventually found the equalizer, capitalizing on a rebound from another Merklin stop. From there, the two teams went back and forth, taking their chances at the opposing backline to no avail, as the game ended in a tie after the full 90 minutes.

How It Happened:
Both teams had chances at goal in the early stages, with four attempts on target inside the first two minutes. Faith Matter had the first shot of the match for either side, with West Chester's forward forcing an early save out of Merklin inside one minute. Bloomsburg responded to the first offensive with its own early chances, as Olivia Thompson's (Pottstown, Pa./Owen J. Roberts) shots inside the box were redirected, and Lindsey Bull's (Bloomsburg, Pa./Central Columbia) header on a subsequent header went over the crossbar.

From that point forward in the half, the Golden Rams had the Huskies on their heels, unleashing a flurry of movements and shots on Merklin while overloading the defense. Over a 16-minute stretch, West Chester fired off 12 shots, forcing Merklin to come away with five saves, including three against Lindsey Balmer cutting in from the wing. 

After the half-hour mark of the contest and the first round of subs, Bloomsburg began to force West Chester to play around the defense, decreasing the number of clear attempts at the net. The latter half of the first period still saw another two shots on goal from the Golden Rams, as Merklin's save count continued to increase. The fortitude of the Huskies eventually paid off, finding the thinnest of margins to jump out to a 1-0 lead. 

After Haley Bull (Bloomsburg, Pa./Central Columbia) and Kennedie Huber (Mountain Top, Pa./Crestwood) dispossessed a West Chester defender in the attacking half, Huber sprang free momentarily, playing a pass back to Reynolds before the freshman sent the winger down the left side on a run. Huber fought valiantly to keep the ball in play in the corner, but a failed clearance by the Golden Rams fell to the feet of Reynolds. The midfielder took a few steps around the outside corner of the box before a right-footed shot split two defenders and found the top corner to give Bloomsburg the advantage at halftime. 

The fiery efforts of West Chester carried over into the second half, but not without rebuttal from the Huskies. Another five shots from the Golden Rams added to the earlier generated pressure, as Merklin notched her 10th save 50 minutes into the match. With West Chester pressing for a goal, the Huskies utilized some adjustments at the break to find more pockets of space and create chances going forward. Anika Krasnai (Lancaster, Pa./Manheim Township) took a long-range crack to force an outstretched save from Golden Rams goalkeeper Grace Keen, as continued attempts from corners came up fruitless. 

The nonstop action from West Chester eventually paid dividends in the 66th minute of the match. A misplayed ball off a restart from the Bloomsburg defense allowed the pacey Matter to get through for a one-on-one opportunity. Merklin did her best with the initial shot by parrying it to her right. Unbeknownst to Merklin, Lindsey Balmer was lurking off that post and had just enough space and time before the Huskies could react to put away the left-footed equalizer.

The match ebbed and flowed between the two teams after the second-half goal, with both teams leaning into their strengths in search of the win. Bloomsburg continued to apply pressure down the wings and managed to force several more corner opportunities in the closing moments. Attempts from Bull, Krasnai, and Luckenbach all came from the generated pressure from that style of play. In the dying moments, the two teams jockeyed for possession, limiting one another's ability to produce one last clean look on net before the final whistle. 

Numbers of Note:
31-15 - The story of how the match unfolded is not as it may seem based on the final shot tally. West Chester took numerous cracks at goal from an array of positions, particularly in the first half, outshooting Bloomsburg 16-5 through the first 45 minutes in the process. The game evened out between the two teams in the second half, with the Golden Rams having more shots after the break, but the Huskies having more total shots on target (5 to 4). 

2010 - Saturday's result, while not a victory, continues one of the program's best starts in recent years. Bloomsburg women's soccer has now gone unbeaten through its first six games for the first time since the 2010 campaign, similarly starting 5-0-1.

12 - 12 is a familiar number when facing off against West Chester for Merklin. The number of stops is a season high for the senior. The total matches the Effort, Pa. native's most as a Husky, nearly replicating her performance from last season's 1-0 win for Bloomsburg at Steph Pettit Stadium against the Golden Rams. 

On the Horizon:
The No. 22 Bloomsburg women's soccer team makes the short trip to East Stroudsburg to take on the Warriors in another PSAC contest on Wednesday, September 24.