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KUTZTOWN, Pa. – The second-seeded and No. 13 Kutztown University women's soccer team will compete in its fifth Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Semifinal in eight years on Friday when it takes on sixth-seeded Gannon at West Chester on Friday afternoon at 1:30 p.m. With a win, the Golden Bears will advance to their fourth PSAC Championship game in eight years as they search for their first PSAC title in program history.  
 
One more win would also mean KU (16-3) would set a program-record for most victories in a season and match the program-record with its ninth win in a row. So far this season, the Maroon and Gold have already set program-records for regular season victories (15) and PSAC wins (13).
 
Kutztown and Gannon (10-5-3) have already met once this season, on Oct. 15, and it turned out to be a thriller. After Ashley Engler (Williamstown, N.J./Williamstown) opened the scoring for the Golden Bears in the 18th minute, the Golden Knights responded with two Kelsey O'Connor goals in the span of 2:04 to take a 2-1 lead in the 22nd minute.
 
Cara Griffith (Dickson City, Pa./Scranton Prep) erased that deficit 6:16 ahead of halftime, and after a stalemate throughout much of the second half and overtime looming, the freshman gave KU the come-from-behind triumph when she completed her first-career two-goal performance with the game-winner just 2:17 before the final horn.
 
Kutztown had an 18-9 advantage in shots on that afternoon, and also took eight corner kicks while limiting Gannon to one, but the Golden Knights are just one of two teams to score at least two goals in a match against the Maroon and Gold all year.
 
Since that contest, KU has conceded just once in the previous five matches, and is currently on a streak of allowing just one goal in the previous 518 minutes dating back to Gannon's second score. The Golden Bears have shutout three straight opponents and rank second in the PSAC with a .63 goals against average.
 
Kutztown most recently recorded its 10th shutout of the campaign - second-most in the PSAC and fourth-most in program history - in Tuesday's 3-0 Quarterfinal victory over Bloomsburg. The back-four of Cassie Schmidt (Whitehall, Pa./Whitehall), Kristina Miller (Lansdale, Pa./North Penn), Katie Miller (Lansdale, Pa./North Penn) and Erica Monte Carlo (Sewell, N.J./Washington Township) helped freshman goalkeeper Jenna Bracken (Wanaque, N.J./Lakeland Regional) pick up her fifth shutout of the season, which tied teammate Imani Taylor (Voorhees, N.J./Eastern Regional) four fourth-most in the PSAC.
 
Maddie Mohr (Elizabethtown, Pa./Elizabethtown Area) was the offensive catalyst, registering her second-career five-point match to catapult herself into second in the PSAC with 25 points on the year. After assisting on Alaina Curry (York, Pa./Dallastown Area)'s sixth-minute opener, the freshman helped KU pull away with two second-half goals in the span of 14:45.
 
Mohr is now tied for fourth in the PSAC with nine goals and tied for second with seven assists, both of which are team-highs. Her totals are the most in a season by a KU freshman since Chelsea Bressler in 2008 (10G, 26P), who would go on to win PSAC East Rookie of the Year.
 
As a unit, KU's offense is currently second in the PSAC in scoring average at 2.26 goals per match thanks in large part to its last three matches. Totaling 12 goals, The Maroon and Gold have scored at least three times in three consecutive matches for the first time since October of 2008.
 
Curry became just the sixth Golden Bear in program history to score 25 goals in her career with her score on Tuesday. She trails only Mohr and Griffith with six goals on the season. Griffith's seven goals rank tied for ninth in the PSAC, while her four game-winners are tied with Curry and three others for third in the conference.
 
Also in the top-10 of the PSAC statistical rankings is Emily Zwiercan (Reinholds, Pa./Cocalico), who assisted on Mohr's first goal to move into a tie for fourth in the league with six assists on the year.
 
Gannon is coming off a thrilling overtime upset of three-seed Edinboro on Tuesday. After a scoreless 90 minutes of regulation, Hannah Mancka scored from 35 yards out with just 31 seconds remaining in the opening overtime period to send the Golden Knights to the PSAC Semifinals for a second year in a row.
 
Before that win, Gannon had closed the regular season 2-2-1 in its final five matches, which included the 2-3 loss at KU.

Gannon, who is fifth in the PSAC with an average of 1.67 goals per match, boasts one of the conference's top-scorers in Taylor Lewis, who is second in the league with 11 goals. She leads the conference with an average of 4.83 shots per match, is third with 24 points and fourth with four game-winning goals.
 
Nicole Felice is the only other Golden Knight with more than three goals as she has six scores on the campaign. O'Connor and Emily Cekella each have a team-high five assists, which is tied for seventh-most in the PSAC.
 
Goalkeeper Shannon Differ has played a majority of the minutes in net for Gannon, recording four shutouts with a 1.38 goals against average and 0.787 save percentage for a defense that is 11th in the PSAC with a 1.56 goals against average.  
 
The winner of Kutztown and Gannon will face the winner of the first semifinal in Sunday's 1 p.m. Championship. The first semifinal, which begins at 11 a.m., features host, one-seed and No. 3 West Chester against four-seed East Stroudsburg.