Westminster’s Early Goals Sink Lady Lions
ALTOONA, Pa. – A pair of early first half goals was all that the Westminster College women's soccer team needed on Wednesday evening to defeat Penn State Altoona 2-0 in non-conference action at Spring Run Stadium.
Westminster (3-0) was led by Keely Birsic, who assisted on her team's first goal and scored the second one.
Sydney Emershaw (Dallas, PA/Dallas) was the starting goalkeeper for Penn State Altoona (1-1-1) and made two saves between the pipes in the first half. Riley Barrett (Sunbury, PA/Shikellamy) played a scoreless second half in goal and made six saves.
The Lady Lions' Kierra Irwin (Altoona, PA/Altoona) tied for the game-high in total shots with four, as well as in shots on goal with two. Haley Giedroc (Howard, PA/Bald Eagle) finished with three total shot attempts.
Birsic's corner kick set up the Titans' first goal of the game, when Ashley McNabb chipped the corner kick past the goalkeeper at 12:53 to put the visitors on the board. Westminster struck again less than two minutes later, as Birsic took a pass from Ashley Frank and scored on a shot from inside the box at 14:24 to make it 2-0.
Penn State Altoona was able to blank Westminster for the remainder of the game, however.
Emershaw thwarted two scoring opportunities with saves during the latter stages of the first half, and the Lady Lions also got help from the goal post on two occasions.
Barrett continued to keep Westminster off of the scoreboard in the second half, including making a trio of saves within the first five minutes of the period. The Titans appeared to come up with their third goal of the game midway through the half, but it was disallowed due to being offsides.
Westminster finished the game with a 20-11 advantage over Penn State Altoona in total shots attempted, including a 10-3 lead in shots on goal. The Titans also had a 7-2 edge in corner kicks.
Next up, Lady Lions soccer hits the road for the first time this season when they travel to face non-conference opponent Bethany College for a 7:30 p.m. game this Friday, September 7.
