Box Score Philadelphia, Pa. – The Penn State Abington women's soccer team got their season off on the right foot Friday evening with a 2-0 victory over Immaculata University. After a seemingly neverending period of training camp over the past few summer weeks, the Nittany Lions were eager to take their talents out on the pitch and face a real opponent for the first time in the 2013 campaign, and it showed. The Blue and White put up a dominating performance, outshooting the Mighty Macs by a 23-15 mark and controlling the game from nearly start to finish.
 
With only seven players returning from last year's squad, head coach David Castellanos and his staff were looking to see which new faces would step up and fill those shoes, and quite a few players impressed. The first half passed by relatively quietly, with Penn State Abington having most of the quality scoring chances. The best chance for the Nittany Lions came in the 31^st minute, when Cindy Wade got free from her defender and headed a cross towards the upper ninety on the left of the goal mouth. Immaculata goalkeeper Meghan McCurnin dove to her left and got a mitt on the ball, deflecting it just out of the way and keeping the score knotted at 0-0. The game continued scoreless into the second half, when Penn State Abington first-year player Mallory Mugnier netted the first goal of the 2013 season to put the Nittany Lions up 1-0. The junior took possession of the ball in the midfield and dribbled unstopped all the way down the left side into the box. From here, she cut to the center and ripped a shot that McCurnin got a piece of, but which still deflected into the back netting for a goal.
 
After the goal, the Nittany Lions controlled possession for the rest of the game. Try as they might, the Mighty Macs simply could not string many passes together, and everytime a promising attack shaped up, the solid back four of Penn State Abington shut it down with little problem. Senior Alyssa Kaye was strong in goal, making nine saves in her first career shutout, and two other new faces combined to give the Nittany Lions an insurance goal late in the game. Victoria Parker booted a ball from midfield over the top of the Immaculata defense, and freshman forward Jacqueline Alexander ran on to the pass and finished high over McCurnin for the 2-0 final score.
 
With the win, the Nittany Lions move their record to 1-0 on the year and look to keep that record clean when they get right back on the field tomorrow afternoon. Penn State Abington will play host to Ursinus College at Germantown Academy on Saturday evening at 5:00 pm.