Live Stats | PSAC Championship Central KUTZTOWN, Pa. – The Kutztown University women's soccer team is slated to face the Fighting Scots of Edinboro University on Tuesday, Nov. 3 in the First Round of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Tournament. The contest will be held at Edinboro and will start at 1 p.m.
Tickets for Tuesday's game are $7 for adults and $2 for student-age. Those with PSAC passes or students with PSAC school ID are admitted free of charge.
This is the second straight year KU has faced Edinboro in the PSAC Quarterfinal. KU won 2-0 at home last year, when it advanced to the conference final.
Kutztown has qualified for the PSAC Tournament for the eighth-consecutive season. KU has reached the championship game three times (2009, 2011, 2014) in the previous seven seasons, but is in search of its first PSAC title.
Fifth-seeded Kutztown (11-5-1) has faced fourth-seeded Edinboro (12-6) only once this season and the result was not favorable for the Golden Bears. In a cold and snowy afternoon, KU faced the Fighting Scots on the road just one game behind them in the PSAC standings. Unfortunately, the Maroon and Gold dropped a 4-1 decision in the contest. Since then, KU has closed out its regular season winning three of its last four.
The Maroon and Gold have been paced this season by a balanced offense, but the stronghold of the team has been the defense. This season, KU has pitched five shutouts and has only allowed more than two goals on one occasion (Edinboro).
On the opposition, Edinboro has also came up with five clean sheets and has also only allowed more than two goals on one occasion (Seton Hill).
As for the KU offense, the Maroon and Gold have been led by
Alaina Curry (York, Pa./Dallastown Area),
Diana Malanga (Lavallette, N.J./St. Rose) and
Alyssa Ryan (North Wales, Pa./Wissahickon) with goals scored. Curry and Malanga each hold six apiece while Ryan has five.
The main distributor of the ball has been
Brooke May (East Berlin, Pa./Dover Area), who leads the team with seven assists. Kutztown has averaged 2.06 goals per game and has exploded for five goals once and four goals twice on the season.
KU will look to keep its eye out for Jansen Hartmann, who leads Edinboro in both assists (6) and goals (11). Other offensive threats for the Fighting Scots include Halle Hammer, who has eight goals on the season, and Ashley Mutkus, who has tallied six goals and five assists.
The Golden Bears have found solid and consistent play from their sophomore goalkeeper,
Deanna Messner (Willow Grove, Pa./Archbishop Wood). Messner ended the regular season averaging less than one goal allowed per game. She is also third in the PSAC with a .833 save percentage.
As for Edinboro, Sarah Baskey has allowed a little more than one goal per game this season (1.174) and is currently ranked 14th in the PSAC with a .730 save percentage.
For both teams, it seems that the win condition for both teams would be getting on the board early. Since both squads boast solid defensive play, one goal might be enough to decide this PSAC playoff game despite the one-sided victory that ultimately ended in Edinboro's favor early on in the season.
