Box Score Fort Washington, Pa. – The second day of a back-to-back set of games is almost always the toughest, and that proved to be the case on Saturday evening for the Penn State Abington women's soccer squad. The Nittany Lions, coming off a dominating 2-0 victory over Immaculata on Friday night, struggled to put any offense together in today's tilt against Ursinus College. The Bears took home a 1-0 victory on a second-half goal while Penn State Abington could not break out of their own zone and failed to register a shot in the game. Senior Alyssa Kaye had a strong game in goal, however, limiting the Bears to just the one goal while making 10 saves.
 
It was not for a lack of effort that the Nittany Lions struggled on the pitch. Tired legs from a quick turnaround after last night's game combined with a smothering Ursinus offense kept the ball locked in the Abington defensive half much of the game. In fact, it was only by the strong defensive play of the Nittany Lions and the quality goalkeeping from Kaye that the game ended 1-0. Ursinus controlled possession from the get-go, and any time it appeared that the Nittany Lions would break out on offense, the attack was outnumbered by the Bears defense, which then turned the ball straight back upfield. Penn State Abington held on to the shutout as long as they could, but Ursinus finally broke through for a goal twelve minutes into the second half.
 
A foul by the Nittany Lions gave Ursinus a free kick just inside the attacking third in the middle of the field. Valerie Bedrock stepped up and curled a ball into the center of the penalty box and the mass of players awaiting it. Although not a single one got a clean look at a shot, the ball did deflect to a different open spot just a few yards in front of the net, where Jacqueline Smiler awaited. Smiler knocked the ball just past Kaye and into the back of the net for the lone goal of the match. Neither side put together any more promising attacks, and the game ended as a 1-0 loss for the Blue and White.
 
The defeat moves Penn State Abington to 1-1 on the year, both non-conference games. The Nittany Lions will hit the road for the next game, Saturday September 7^th, against Wilson College in the first North Eastern Athletic Conference contest of the season. Keep checking abingtonsports.com for all your Nittany Lions news and notes throughout the entire 2013-13 athletic season.