On Saturday, Sept. 18, the Elizabethtown College women’s soccer team celebrated its seniors and finished off the night with a victory over Penn State Berks (PSB), 3-0. Graduate student Janelle Barna, junior Gabi Brown, and first-year Ava Whisten each scored for the Blue Jays while junior Trinity Soto and first-year Adrienne McGallicher combined on the shutout.
From the beginning of the game, Etown had the Nittany Lions on their heels. While the shots weren’t always on target in the first half, the Blue Jays’ offense was playing aggressively. It seemed like it was only a matter of time before a goal was made. Barna scored the first goal of the game with a free kick.
Soto was forced into a diving save on a well-struck ball by Sara Hathaway of Penn State Berks. 30 seconds later, Etown was on the attack when the Nittany Lions’ Morgan Bleyer committed a foul not too far outside the box on the left side of the field. Brown and Barna lined up over the ball and Brown stepped over and sprinted down the left side. Barna stepped up and smacked a ball that made a beeline for the upper right corner of the net, giving the goalie no chance as the Slatington, Pa. native netted her first of the season to make it 1-0 in the 42nd minute.
The Jays outshot the Lions 9-2 in the first half as they led by a goal at the break.
Whisten tested Lions’ goalkeeper Savannah McNeal twice in the first five minutes of the second half, and the first-year keeper made a couple saves to keep her team within a goal. Meanwhile, off of senior Marissa Lapinsky’s corner, Whisten lashed a shot at McNeal, who made the save, and sophomore Aleaha Bigelow’s follow-up off the rebound was saved along the line by a PSB defender to keep it out of the net.
About 20 minutes later, senior Erika Antunes found herself in the box with an opportunity at goal, but the ball was tackled away at the last second. With a couple players on the ground, Brown alertly followed the play and stepped up for a shot and sent the loose ball into the net for her first of the season to make it 2-0 in the 68th minute.
Just over two minutes later, it was Whisten scoring her first collegiate goal. Barna gathered the ball in the midfield and dribbled through a couple defenders and played a through ball to Whisten into the right side of the box. The first-year forward struck the ball and sent it to the far post, out of the reach of the goalkeeper for Etown’s third of the night.
McGallicher made just one save after coming on for Soto in the 83rd minute. She and Soto combined for six in the game. McNeal had four for the Nittany Lions.
The women’s soccer team will host York College of Pennsylvania on Wednesday, Sept. 22, at 7 p.m.
