ERIE, Pa. – The third-seeded Kutztown University women's soccer squad opened the NCAA Division II Women's Soccer Championship with a 2-1 win over the sixth-seeded Charleston (W. Va.) Golden Eagles at Gannon's McConnell Family Stadium on Friday afternoon.

The scoring took place in the first half, which saw the Golden Bears (12-4-6, 7-3-6 PSAC East) take momentum despite the time of possession being dominated by the Golden Eagles (16-6, 13-2 Mountain East South). Kutztown took advantage of bad Charleston defensive positioning on a pair of corner opportunities.

The first strike came in the first 10 minutes from Caroline McDonald (Exton, Pa./Downingtown East), who guided a shot from Bridget Curtis (Warrington, Pa./Central Bucks South) into the net after Katelyn Economopoulos (Grantville, Pa./Lower Dauphin) sent the corner into the crowd in front of the box. Charleston's Frankie Morrow responded four minutes later to even the score.

Curtis would add to the box score for Kutztown, as the senior netted the deciding goal in the 32nd minute off of another Economopoulos corner, scoring her first game-winning goal of the season.

The second half saw a more even time of possession, with both defenses holding strong in attempts to give their team the advantage.

Charleston had an open net opportunity in the 60th minute after rebounding a deflection from Kutztown's defense, but senior Dana Wentz (Leola, Pa./Conestoga Valley) positioned herself perfectly in between the posts to make a timely save, maintaining the Kutztown advantage that would hold to the end.

Freshman Cassidy Howes (Havre de Grace, Md./Havre de Grace) made her imprint on the game with four saves and many more defensive stands against the Golden Eagles offense, allowing just one score from the sixth-seeded opposition.

Kutztown moves to 11-0-2 against the Golden Eagles, winning both meetings this season. Kutztown has won three of their past four games overall, all postseason matches on the road, a streak they hope to continue in their second-round matchup.

With the win, KU moves onto the second round for the fifth time in program history and the third consecutive season, where they will face the winner of the first-round game between second-seeded Gannon and seventh-seeded Frostburg State in the Atlantic Region semifinals. While Kutztown hasn't battled Frostburg State, they met Gannon last week in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Women's Soccer Championship semifinal round, handing the Golden Knights their first loss of the season by a score of 2-1 to advance to the conference championship game.

Tickets can be purchased through the site linked above. Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for students (K-12). Students from PSAC institutions are free with a valid student ID. Children who have not yet reached kindergarten (Pre-K) are also free.

The livestream and stats links can be found above, along with the NCAA tournament central and more information about the tournament's host, Gannon University.

The NCAA Atlantic Region semifinal matchup will take place at 3 p.m. on Sunday at Gannon's McConnell Family Stadium for the right to play in the Atlantic Region Championship.