WSoc lineup vs SMC
Tyler Schueck
0
St. Mary's (MD) SMCW (7-8-3)
1
Winner Penn State Berks PSBW (9-8-1)
St. Mary's (MD) SMCW
(7-8-3)
0
Final
1
Penn State Berks PSBW
(9-8-1)
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
St. Mary's (MD) SMCW 0 0 0
Penn State Berks PSBW 0 1 1

Game Recap: Women's Soccer |

Lepera's late heroics sends soccer to United East Finals

READING, PA - Adriana Lepera snuck a deflection past the keeper with three seconds remaining in the game to give the top-seeded Penn State Berks women's soccer team a thrilling 1-0 victory over No. 5 seed St. Mary's College of Maryland in the United East Volt Division Semifinal Round on Tuesday night.

With the win, Berks advances to the conference finals where they will host No. 2 seed Penn State Harrisburg on Thursday, November 2. The winner of that contest will advance to the United East/CSAC Crossover Championship with the winner receiving an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

In Tuesday nights action, the final scoring play was set up with a foul just outside the box on the left side of the field by the Seahawks. Diana Pon set up for the free kick and delivered a low line drive in front of a group of players in front of the keeper. Lepera snuck through the pile and deflected the ball past the keeper and inside the left post to break the scoreless tie. The players on the field surrounded Lepera as her teammates on the bench and fans in the stands went wild over the late heroics. The goals was the fourth of season and second game-winner for Lepera, while Pon raised her team lead in assists to five.

Lepera actually had the best scoring chance of the night right off the bat for the Nittany Lions. Just over a minute into the contest, the St. Mary's defense tried to switch the field, but Lepera intercepted the pass around the top box while the keeper was way out of net. Lepera took a few dribbles and tried to shoot on the open net, but the Seahawks defender was able to deflect the shot out of bounds to give Berks a corner kick. The Nittany Lions had three straight corner kicks which ended with the first of three shots on the night by Paige Borkowski that would end up sailing just high of the target.

For the game, Berks outshot the Seahawks by a 9-3 margin (4-1 on goal) and held a 6-3 advantage on corner kicks.

Sophia Gonzalez continued to play strong in net. The sophomore goalkeeper tallied one save in net, but it was her ability to stop crosses into the box and punchout the few corner chances by the Seahawks. Kylie Wells finished with three stops for St. Mary's.

Berks and Harrisburg will meet in the conference title match for the fourth consecutive tournament. Berks won the crown in 2019 and 2022, while Harrisburg took the title in 2021. The two teams played just last Tuesday, with Berks winning by a score of 2-1 in an evenly matched contest.
 
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