Box Score Abington, Pa. - The Penn State Abington Lady Lions soccer team made sure to send their seniors out with one last victory this evening against Gallaudet. The Lady Lions used four first half goals to outpace the Bison and come away with a 6-1 victory. Seniors Brittany Palmer and Kaitlin Kozole each scored a goal for Penn State Abington on what was their last regular season home match for the blue and white.

Head coach David Castellanos had his team fired up from the start and it showed, as the Lady Lions (11-5-1, 8-3-1 NEAC) got on the board just five minutes into the game. In what ended up being a recurring theme for most of the night, the scoring chance started with a great through pass behind the defense. In this case, freshman Desirae Holmes sent a ball between the right back and central defender from Gallaudet. The pass rolled nicely upon the turf, allowing freshman Nicole Kidd to run behind the defenders and collect the ball in stride. Kidd had a partial breakaway on goal, and made sure to finish strong, curling a shot past Gallaudet goalkeeper Kara Gulvas and into the right side of the net for an early 1-0 lead.

It was not long after that when the first of Abington's two seniors got into the scoring act herself. This time, freshman Ashley Quenzer made a great run from her left back position, getting all the way across midfield with the ball before sending another wonderfull through pass behind the defense. All that was left was for a Lady Lions player to run onto the ball, and that is exactly what Brittany Palmer did. Palmer picked up the ball in stride and carried it all the way into the penalty box, where she let fly with a shot that screamed past Gulvas and snuck just inside the left post. Only 13 minutes into the game and the Lady Lions were already up by two.

Gallaudet (4-14, 3-9 NEAC) finally had a chance to break out of their own end, and three minutes later got a goal of their own. Freshman Sofia Lindevall, leading scorer for the Bison, took possession of a turnover in midfield and dribbled all the way down the left side and into the penalty box unstopped. From just inside the box on the left side, Lindevall let loose with a low, rolling shot towards the far post. Sophomore goalkeeper Gabrielle Benedict, thinking the shot was going wide, let the ball go but it managed to sneak just inside the right post and into the net for a goal.

From here on out, Penn State Abington exerted their dominance in the match. With only a 2-1 lead, the Lady Lions did not rest comfortably on their laurels, and in the 23rd minute, Desirae Holmes got a goal of her own to extend the margin. This time, it was Kidd who did the passing, sending yet another through ball behind the Bison defense. With plenty of space in front of her and just the goalkeeper to beat, Holmes ran onto the ball and sent a shot just to the right of Gulvas and into the back of the net, making the score 3-1.

Four minutes later, the Lady Lions got their final goal of the half. Once again off a through ball, Holmes got in behind the defense and had a one-on-one opportunity against the golkeeper. On this chance, Holmes shot to the right side, with the ball clipping the right post on its way into the back of the net. As the teams headed off the field for halftime, it was Penn State Abington who had a 4-1 lead.

In the second half, the Lady Lions picked up right where they left off. In the 54th minute, Nicole Kidd got her second goal of the match. After possessing the ball in the attacking third for an extended period of time, the Lady Lions worked the ball towards the top right side of the penalty box. Here, a pass was sent across to Kidd waiting at the top left of the box. After taking a dribble to set up her shot, Kidd sent a beautiful ball into the upper left hand corner of the goal, giving the Lady Lions a 5-1 lead.

Fittingly, the Lady Lions got their final goal of the night from the other senior on the squad. In the 63rd minute, Kaitlin Kozole took a pass in the midfield and dribbled into the attacking third of the field. With nobody in front of her to slow her dowm, Kozole continued her attack. Finally, from 20 yards out, Kozole let loose with a powerful shot towards the left side of the net. Bison netminder Kara Gulvas was able to stop the shot momentarily, diving to her right to try to collect the ball. However, after hitting Gulvas, the ball rolled over her body and into the netting, giving Abington their 6-1 final score.

With the victory, the Lady Lions moved one step closer to possibly hosting their first-round game of the NEAC tournament. Although the women have one final game tomorrow evening against Ursinus, because it is a non-conference opponent, Penn State Abington has done all they can to solidify their own standing. The important matchup that the Lady Lions will be "scoreboard watching" for comes this Saturday, the final day of competition in the NEAC regular season. SUNYIT, currently sixth in the standings, plays host to Keuka, who sit at fifth place in the standings. Should Keuka win or tie that game on the road, they will jump into fourth place ahead of Abington, putting the Lady Lions on the road for their first-round playoff game. Be sure to keep checking in at abingtonsports.com for all the updates and news on the playoff race for the Penn State Abington Lady Lions.