by McKenzie Quirin

GREENSBURG, Pa. – No. 2 seed Pitt-Greensburg scored twice in the first half, then added five second-half goals to hand the sixth-seeded Penn State Altoona women's soccer team a 7-0 loss in Wednesday night's Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference Tournament semifinal game at Spartan Stadium.

With its win, Pitt-Greensburg (11-5-1) advances to the AMCC championship game this Saturday, November 4, when it will go to Penn State Behrend for a shot at the conference title. Meanwhile, Penn State Altoona (5-11-2) is eliminated from the postseason tournament.

Nicole Schwartz (Clifton, NJ/Passaic County Technical Institute) made her 15th start of the season at goalkeeper for the Lions and recorded three saves on five shots on goal in the first half. Adeline Baustert (Apollo, PA/Apollo-Ridge) came in for Schwartz and recorded two saves on six shots on goal while seeing 29:40 of action. Caitlin Cowen (South Park, PA/South Park) substituted in for Baustert and finished the game, recording two saves on three shots on goal over the final 15:20.

The Lions' Mallorie Smith (Bellefonte, PA/Bellefonte) finished the game with four shots, two of which went on goal. Rachel Rutkowski (Canonsburg, PA/Canon-McMillan) also finished the game with one shot for Penn State Altoona.

The Lions held off Pitt-Greensburg for the first 20 minutes of the game, but the Bobcats converted on offense when Maya Wertelet broke the scoreless tie at the 20:40 mark, scoring her 17th goal of the season. Later in the first half, the Bobcats struck again when Megan Hickey netted a goal at 44:48 to extend the lead to 2-0.

Pitt-Greensburg came out in the second half and scored their third goal of the night at 60:40 from a shot by Sarah Tonkovich. Exactly 36 seconds after the Bobcats' third goal, at 61:16, Maggie Knorr found the back of the net to add to the Lions' deficit, making it 4-0.

Not letting up, the Bobcats continued to overpower the Lions' defense as they netted goals from Logan Jennings at 66:13 and Hickey again at 73:56, contributing to Pitt-Greensburg taking a 6-0 lead. That lead increased by one when Abby Henise scored late, at 88:48, to solidify the Bobcats' 7-0 victory against Penn State Altoona.