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KUTZTOWN, Pa. – Late long-range goals from freshmen Madison McLelland (Toms River, N.J./Toms River South) and Emily Zwiercan (Reinholds, Pa./Cocalico), the latter coming with just 3:14 remaining, gave the Kutztown University women's soccer team its second straight win as the Golden Bears improved to 2-1 overall and 1-1 in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference play with a come from behind victory over Lock Haven on Wednesday afternoon at North Campus Field.
Struggling to find a rhythm throughout the afternoon, it took the two spectacular individual efforts for Kutztown to salvage the win. McLelland gave the Golden Bears life with her equalizer with just 13:37 left on KU's third shot on net. The rookie pounced on a loose ball just out the box, took one dribble and unleashed a rocket into the upper right hand corner to make the score 1-1.
Kutztown put two more attempts on net in the next five minutes as it looked for the go-ahead score but it would not come until Zwiercan came up with yet another individual moment of brilliance. The freshman received the ball a few yards outside the 18 and took a couple of dribbles to the top left corner of the box. She then turned around and beautifully curled her game-winning effort into the top right corner of the net.
KU's possession took over from there, keeping the ball in its offensive zone and Lock Haven (1-3, 0-3 PSAC) could not come up with one last opportunity to send the game into overtime.
The late scores ensured that freshman Jenna Bracken (Wanaque, N.J./Lakeland Regional), appearing in her first contest as a Golden Bear, would pick up her first collegiate win. She made six stops on the afternoon to help keep Kutztown in the game, including one just one minute after KU had equalized.
Lock Haven did have the slight advantage in shots, 15-12, and put one more effort on net, 7-6. Freshman Maddie Mohr (Elizabethtown, Pa./Elizabethtown Area), making her presence apparent in Kutztown's offensive zone throughout the 90 minutes, had half of the Golden Bears shot attempts.
Both teams struggled to find chances through much of the opening period as there were just two shots on net in the opening half hour. The best opportunities perhaps came when Mohr intercepted an attempted back pass to the goalie and sent her shot just wide in the 29th minute, and then minutes later when Lock Haven's Emily Vitale forced a diving stop from Bracken.
It looked like the game would be going into the break scoreless but a Lock Haven corner in the final minutes changed the momentum of the contest. Erika Landis' ball found Vitale in the middle of the box and she was able to flick her header towards the back post. After one hop, a charging Hayleigh Swam beat the KU defense to the ball to easily tap in for the lead 2:21 ahead of the break.
The second half began much like the first with just two attempts on frame in the first 30 minutes. It looked like it may not be Kutztown's day when a Mohr shot hit the bar twice just under five minutes out of the half.
Competing in the first of five consecutive PSAC contests, KU returns to the pitch when it travels to Seton Hill for a 2 p.m. kickoff on Saturday afternoon.
