Buena Vista, Va.– The Penn State Harrisburg women's soccer team played a great first half of soccer on the road against the Southern Virginia Knights on Saturday October 4th.
Leading the first half charge was outside midfielder Kylie Courtney (Honey Brook, Pa. / Twin Valley) and central midfielder Hannah Jorich (Middletown, Pa / Middletown) who we on their game from the start. Jorich was effective moving the ball forward into the final third, while Courtney was dangerous on the outside taking on defenders and getting shots off. Courtney would have had her first goal of the season but an amazing save by Mackenzie Cox kept SVU even just 20 minutes into the first half.
The Lions were in great shape going into the second half after executing the defensive plan they had set forth to shut down the Knights. Unfortunately, after starting slow in the second half, Harrisburg made a costly mistake giving away a hand ball at the corner of the box. SVU did not waste the chance and converted the penalty kick with a shot to the right corner.
Down 1-0 with 33 minutes to go, the Blue and White made some adjustments to push numbers forward and created more than a few opportunities to even the game. As time wound down, they pushed higher and higher for the equalizer, eventually giving the Knights a counter attack opportunity in the final minutes that was converted for a 2-0 win.
"It was tough to leave here without the points we know we could have come home with. SVU did a good job to convert on our mistakes, but we have to find a way to score during the periods of play when we create multiple chances." Penn State Harrisburg head coach Adam Clay said following the match.
Harrisburg will have to regroup now 1-1 in conference play as they get ready to host Salisbury (2-0) Wednesday October 8th at 5:00 pm.