READING, PA (September 16, 2010) - ALYSSA SCHEIDT scored three goals to help the Penn State Berks women's soccer team cruise to a 6-1 win over visiting King's College on a rain soaked Thursday afternoon.
Scheidt, coming off a six goal weekend that earned her NEAC athlete of the week honors, put the Nittany Lions (3-2) ahead with two first half goals. The tally came when TAYLOR KREIDER crossed a pass in front of the keeper, Scheidt slid to knock the ball into the left corner and beat the ensuing defender.
In the 25th minute, Scheidt used her speed and footwork to grab the 2-0 advantage. She dribbled from midfield, passing by defenders and drilled a shot into the back right corner of the net.
After the half time intermission, the rain fall may have slowed down but the Nittany Lion offense picked up even more. BRI ARNOLD separated herself from the defense and launched a shot from 20 yards out. The keeper made a nice diving stop, however, Kreider positioned herself perfectly to knock home the rebound to mount a 3-0 lead only 33 seconds into the second half.
After Scheidt added her final tally off a beautiful pass by KAITI SASSANO, LYNDSAY NAUGHTON fought off the defense, and flipped the ball over the keeper for the first goal of her collegiate career. MACKENZY DAWSON finished off the scoring with her first goal of the season on an assist by MARY SOFISH.
Goalkeeper CASSIDY DAWSON kept up her stellar play with a seven save effort. She has 24 stops in the three game winning streak. Also in that time, Berks has outscored the opposition 18-5.
The Lady Monarch's pulled the match within two early in the second half on a goal by Jade Zuniga that trickled into net off the finger tips of Dawson. After that blemish, the Berks defense shut down Kings the rest of the way.
"This is the best game that we have played this season," said head coach Adrian Munteanu. "The players did everything that we asked of them. We kept possession of the ball on a consistent basis, it was a great collective effort from start to finish."
The women will enjoy a nine-day layoff until they get back into NEAC action when SUNY Cobleskill and SUNYIT visit Berks on September 25 and 26.
"I think the time off will help us," said Munteanu. "We have a lot of freshman, so we will be putting stuff together at practice. Our work rate will remain the same and we will be ready for our conference games next week."
