LANCASTER, Pa. - The Penn State Harrisburg women's soccer team faced its toughest conference opponent of the season on Saturday, Oct. 6 when the ladies matched up against the defending North Eastern Athletic Conference (NEAC) champions from Lancaster Bible.  The Lions came in with a perfect 5-0 conference record but left 5-1 thanks to the Chargers' slim 2-1 victory. 

The contest was a tale of two halves.  The first half definitely went in favor of Lancaster Bible as the home team scored both of its goals in the first 45 minutes.  The first goal came in the seventh minute with the second coming with just under three minutes to play in the period, killing the momentum Penn State Harrisburg was starting to gain towards the end of the first half. 

The blue and white made a few player adjustments and turned up the intensity level in the second half.    The Lions were able to keep the ball in the Chargers' defensive end for most of the half.  Unfortunately, the inconsistency of the ladies not playing a full 90 minute game and giving up a late goal in the first would be too much to overcome. 

The Lions did make the game a nail biter after Lyndsay Naughton (Reading, Pa. / Reading Central Catholic) scored from a Fay Ansary (Hummelstown, Pa. / Hershey) cross making it a one-goal game with 15 minutes to go. 

Although pushing forward to the end, it just wasn't the Lions' day. 

"I was glad we found some intensity in the second half but if we don't play a full 90 minute game we are not going to beat teams of this caliber," said Penn State Harrisburg Head Coach Adam Clay.  "We need to take this game as a lesson learned and move forward as a team."

The Penn State Harrisburg women hope to get another winning streak going again starting Sunday, Oct. 7 when they travel for another important conference game against St. Elizabeth's College.