ALTOONA, Pa. – Penn State Altoona women's soccer opened its Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference schedule with a tight loss on Saturday afternoon, falling 2-1 to conference opponent D'Youville College at Spring Run Stadium.

Sadie McConnell (New Enterprise, PA/Northern Bedford) scored her team-leading fifth goal of the season for the Lady Lions (2-4-1, 0-1 AMCC), while Kierra Irwin (Altoona, PA/Altoona) recorded an assist.

Kaitlyn Harmon (Sunbury, PA/Shikellamy) made seven stops in goal for Penn State Altoona.

D'Youville (4-3, 1-0 AMCC) struck first in Saturday's game, when Makenna Magee dribbled the ball up the right side of the field and beat the keeper with a shot from 12 yards out to put the visiting team up 1-0 at 16:50. The Lady Spartans upped their lead to 2-0 at 29:56, when Isabella Lucania floated a shot overtop the keeper and into the net.

Penn State Altoona kept D'Youville off the scoreboard from there on out, and the Lady Lions were finally able to break through for their first goal of the day at 73:11. Irwin sent a long ball down the middle of the field, where it was taken by McConnell in the box. McConnell worked past several D'Youville defenders to chip a shot past the goalie and trim Penn State Altoona's deficit to 2-1.

But Penn State Altoona was unable to come up with the tying goal in the closing minutes of the game, and the team took its first conference loss of the schedule.

Penn State Altoona led D'Youville in shot attempts by a 17-11 margin, including outshooting the visitors 12-2 during the second half. D'Youville finished with a 9-6 lead in shots on goal, and Penn State Altoona had a 4-2 lead in corner kicks.

Irwin led the Lady Lions in shots, attempting five and putting two on goal. McConnell also had two shots on goal and three total shot attempts. Sam Jones (Clifford Township, PA/Mountain View) and Samara Kornegay (Bloomfield, NJ/Bloomfield) each finished with two shot attempts.

Penn State Altoona women's soccer ventures back into non-conference play for its next game, when the team will host Washington & Jefferson College on Tuesday, September 24 at 6:30 p.m.