Greater Allegheny Women's Soccer Earns Their First Win, 3-2

McKeesport, Pa. - While sophomore midfielder Melissa Loftus (Oxford, Pa./Oxford) contributed a natural hat-trick, the Penn State Greater Allegheny women's soccer team achieved its first win since becoming a team last fall, 3-2 over Westmoreland County Community College.

Sophomore defender Rachel Ramsey (North Versailles, Pa./East Allegheny) lobbed a ball to Loftus about 14 minutes into the game, moving the ball from the center of the field to the right side before getting buried by Loftus over the goalies hands, 1-0 GA.

Just a minute and a half later, WCCC managed to get on the board to even the tally at one. The game remained tied at one while both teams battled hard.

After halftime, Loftus received another bomb off of Ramsey, giving her the momentum to beat the defender from left to right, nabbing the second goal for Greater Allegheny. The score stayed 2-1 for the next thirteen minutes before WCCC put another into the mesh, evening the score at two.

The game trudged on in a dead heat for what seemed to be like an eternity into the final minute of action. Loftus found the rebound off of the goalie's hands and capped off her hat-trick to elevate her team to their first victory since the reinstatement last season.

Westmoreland County CC outshot Greater Allegheny 27-12, but with major contibuting factors from freshmen goaltenders Rachael Maiden (Pittsburgh, Pa./Thomas Jefferson) and Jen Keefer (Elizabeth, Pa./Elizabeth Forward), they stopped 20 of them.

Loftus aimed all five of her shots on goal through 90 minutes while freshman forward Antoinette Gordy-Smith fired off three shots and Ramsey took two herself.

Greater Allegheny looks to continue onward and upward as they travel to Penn State Beaver on Tuesday afternoon. The soon-to-be PSUAC rival game will kick-off at 4 p.m.