BEAVER FALLS, Pa. – The Geneva College women's soccer team saw its season get off to a good start when it defeated La Roche University, 2-0, on Saturday afternoon at home. Geneva improved to 1-0, while La Roche fell to 0-1.
The Golden Tornadoes pressured La Roche right from the start, testing the high back line of the Redhawks, and that pressure paid off in the 30
th minute when junior
Erin Houser (Lititz, Pa./Warwick) played a ball over the top that senior
Erica Sumner (Beaver Falls, Pa./Beaver County Christian) ran onto behind the defense, and she proceeded to score past the charging goalkeeper from 15 yards out to put Geneva ahead 1-0. That is where things stayed going into halftime.
Houser doubled the lead just two minutes into the second half when she received a free kick from junior
Calista Ulmer (Milton, Pa./Northumberland Christian) and shot it over the goalkeeper's head from the right corner of the box to push Geneva's lead to 2-0.
Geneva kept the pressure up, and had several chances to increase its lead, but La Roche's keeper Isabelle Orange made several key saves to keep the Golden Tornadoes from doing further damage. Geneva's goalkeeper,
Danielle Lincoln (Milton, Pa./Milton Area), didn't see a lot of action, but she came up with a couple big saves late when she was needed, preserving the shutout, 2-0.
"I was pretty encouraged by our play today," said Head Coach
Linda Sumner. "Our upperclassmen led the way, with Erica and Erin coming up with goals, and we got some really good contributions from our freshmen, who really gave us a lift. It's always good to start the season with a win, but there is definitely room for improvement. Overall, though, this is a good first performance."
Geneva outshot La Roche 14-6, including an 11-4 advantage in shots on goal. Lincoln made four saves overall to pick up her first shutout of the season, after tying for the lead in the conference last season in shutouts with seven.
Geneva heads out onto the road next week for two games, starting with a match at Muskingum on Wednesday at 5:00 p.m., followed by a match at Mount Aloysius next Saturday at 2:00 p.m.
Geneva College is a Christ-centered academic community that provides a comprehensive education to equip students for faithful and fruitful service to God and neighbor. Offering over 115 traditional undergraduate majors and programs, fully online Adult Degree Programs and high-demand graduate degrees, Geneva's programs are recognized for their high quality. U.S. News & World Report ranks Geneva as a Top Three Best Value Regional University with one of the top engineering programs in the nation. Adhering to the truth of Scripture, a Geneva education is grounded in God's Word as well as in a core curriculum designed to prepare students vocationally to think, write and communicate well in today's world.
