BOX SCORE

Reading, Pa. (Oct. 12, 2006) – Senior defender Karen Hutton (Ridgewood, NJ/Eastern Christian) curled in the Crusaders 13th corner kick on the day with under five minutes to play giving Alvernia College a 2-1 win over Neumann College Thursday afternoon in Pennsylvania Athletic Conference women’s soccer action at Schlager Memorial Field.

            Alvernia earned 13 corners to one for the Knights, and when the Crusaders offense failed to convert on the previous 12, Hutton took matters into her own hands using a blustery day to her advantage to beat Neumann keeper Caitlin Agnew (Philadelphia, PA/Little Flower) to the near post.

            Neumann (4-8-1, 2-4-1 PAC), which came in fighting with Alvernia, Arcadia, and Wesley for a final playoff spot, opened the scoring early with a breakaway goal in the seventh minute of play.  Junior forward Casey Geary (Ocean City, NJ/Ocean City) broke through the Crusaders’ defense and put home her team-leading seventh goal of the season.  Alvernia (5-6-1, 3-5-1 PAC) countered with seven shots in the opening half, but could not level the score until Brandi Light (Myerstown, PA/Tulpehocken) converted a Kristina Bittner (Boothwyn, PA/Cardinal O’Hara) assist two minutes into the second half.

            The score remained knotted at 1-1 through most of the second half until Hutton connected on her first goal of the season.  Senior goalie Katie Einsel (Mohnton, PA/Governor Mifflin) made four saves in net for the Crusaders while Agnew ended with seven stops for the Knights.

            Alvernia will complete the conference schedule this Saturday when it hosts Cabrini College at 1:00 p.m.

Alvernia 2, Neumann 1