YORK, Pa. - The Penn State Harrisburg women's soccer team started the game strong against York College, one of the top teams in the Capital Athletic Conference (CAC). The Lions will be moving to the CAC starting with the 2013 campaign and their game on Tuesday, Sep. 18 was a good test for the next level of competition they can expect to face next season. The blue and white came out ready for a dog fight of a game due to the extremely wet conditions which also caused a 30 minute delay before the initial whistle. Despite a strong effort, the Lions eventually fell to the home team 3-0.
Leading the charge for Penn State Harrisburg were two key defensive players in Morgan Gates (Harrisburg, Pa. / Central Dauphin) who plays right back and her sister Mackenzie (Harrisburg, Pa. / Central Dauphin) who is fighting for the starting goalkeeper position that is still undetermined. Morgan looked extremely strong on the day and made herself noticed in the first ten minutes of the game.
Unfortunately, a head-to-eye collision would put Morgan out for a few minutes. Penn State Harrisburg Head Coach Adam Clay decided to go with ten players rather than sub her out of the game. After a few minutes she was back in the game fighting hard but could only handle a few more minutes before having to be pulled due to the injury that is going to leave her with a black eye and a gutsy story to tell tomorrow.
The Lions were shaken for a bit after losing their starting right back and gave away two quick goals less than a minute apart, putting them down by two scores in the 19th minute. The score would remain 2-0 going into halftime.
The other half of the strong defensive duo was comprised of Mackenzie Gates in goal. She helped to keep the game within reach due to her many quality saves in both halves. She earned 11 on the day in total, including a very nice stop on a 1v1 breakaway.
"It was great seeing the defense today feeling comfortable in pressured situations passing the ball back to Mackenzie as she demanded it from them rather than just kicking the ball out and turning over possession." said Clay about Mackenzie Gates in goal.
York finished the game off with a third goal in the 67th minute and the match would end at 3-0 in the Spartans favor.
"The girls continue to impress me week to week. We have been making mistakes, working on them in practice and fixing them in future games." said Clay. " But obviously we still have some mistakes happening that need to be straightened out to not only compete against the best, but beat them."
The Lions have a huge conference home game this Saturday, Sep. 22 at 12 p.m. when they host North Eastern Athletic Conference (NEAC) foe Keuka. The matchup will have definite implications on the conference standings down the line. Come out and support the blue and white as they try to stay undefeated in NEAC play.