HUNTINGDON, PA- The Juniata and Pitt-Bradford women’s soccer teams battled for over 100 minutes of game time and it was the visiting Panthers who came out the victors in a 2-1 overtime win on Wednesday afternoon at Winton Hill Field. Pitt-Bradford remains undefeated at 4-0 while the Eagles fall to 2-4 overall.
The two teams both scored in the first half. The Panthers got on the board first in the 22nd minute when Maggie Boehler got a shot off into the right corner of the goal that beat JC goalie Kerry Leonard (Cockeysville, MD/Maryvale Prep) to put the visitors ahead 1-0.
The Panther lead would be prove to be short-lived as just over nine minutes later, the Eagles would tie the game up. Emily Green (Maytown, PA/Donegal) headed the ball to Lauren Liacouras (Collegeville, Pa/Perkiomen Valley) who laid a strike into the net to make it 1-1.
The second half was a tight defensive battle as the first shot of the period did not occur until over nine and a half minutes into the period when Aubrie Christensen’s (Lititz, PA/Manheim Township) attempt went wide. The last shot occurred with just over seven minutes remaining by Pitt-Bradford’s Abby Celesky that Leonard quickly defended.
In the overtime period, the Panthers recorded both shots. The final one was by Melissa Smith who netted the game winner in the 102nd minute.
“We played well and when you play good quality teams, you can’t make mistakes,” said head coach Scott McKenzie. “We need to reduce our number of mistakes. We are looking forward to our next game to continue our improvement.”
Juniata finished the game with a lead in shots, 13-8, and had the game’s only corner kick. The Eagles committed nine fouls to Pitt-Bradford’s five.
Leonard had three saves for the Eagles in goal. Sarah Dailey turned away five shots for the Panthers.
The Eagles look to bounce back on Saturday when they go on the road to face Kings College. Game time will be at 4:30 p.m.
