Box Score Reading, Pa. – The Penn State Abington women's soccer squad saw their postseason slip away earlier Sunday afternoon with a tough 4-0 loss against Penn State Berks in the North Eastern Athletic Conference championship match. A chance deflection put Berks ahead early on in the windblown game on Berks' campus, and the insurance goals came later on in the middle of the match to seal Penn State Abington's fate. The women finish the year with an impressive 14-3-1 record and a 10-1 mark in conference play, which was good enough for a second place finish in the NEAC.
 
Today's championship match opened with the teams trading possession early before the hosts grabbed an early lead on an unlucky deflection. Berks freshman Simone Stewart took a ball along the right side of the field toward Penn State Abington's box. Senior goalkeeper Alyssa Kaye, winner of the 2013 NEAC Goalkeeper of the Year award, came off her line to try and stop Stewart's attack, but Stewart was able to take a dribble to the right, away from Kaye and the goal, and cut to the end line. She then sent a ball back towards the goal, right along the end line in hopes of finding another attacker. Instead, a Penn State Abington defender tried to clear the ball out of danger, but it took an unfortunate bounce and deflected straight into the Abington net instead, giving Penn State Berks a 1-0 lead just ten minutes into the match.
 
Penn State Abington put forth a valiant effort to try and tie the match back up, and it appeared as they had done just that midway through the first half. In the 23^rd minute, freshman Kayla Nolan managed to get behind her defender with the ball and took a shot past onrushing Berks keeper Savannah Cramer from outside the penalty box. The ball trickled slowly towards the net, but a Berks defender managed to get back and clear the ball out of play just before it crossed the goal line. On the ensuing corner kick, Brigitta Good hit the post with the Nittany Lions first effort, setting off a string of three more chances in the ensuing seconds. However, ultimately Penn State Berks cleared the ball well out of their zone and ended what would be Penn State Abington's best scoring chance of the afternoon.
 
Over the remainder of the game, Penn State Berks got two more goals from Stewart, who completed her hat trick with a nifty dribble around a rushing Kaye yet again before slotting the ball into the net from the left to make it a 3-0 game. Then, with just under ten minutes left, Lizzie Mummau scored Penn State Berks' final goal on a breakaway chance against Kaye. Penn State Abington's senior keeper made three great saves against the difficult Berks squad, but in the end their attack was too relentless for Penn State Abington to match. With the loss, Penn State Abington's hopes of an automatic bid into the NCAA Division III tournament come to an end. The team will now await the NCAA Selection Show early this week to find out if they receive an at-large bid. Check back in here at abingtonsports.com for any updates on the Nittany Lions chase for the postseason.