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The University of Pennsylvania treated home fans to a pair of shutout wins to start their 2018 season in week two of the Division 1 women’s college soccer season.
It took almost an hour in the season opener for the Quakers to find the back of the net with a strike from Sasha Stephens, but once that goal went in the floodgates opened. Paige Howard scored twice and Kelsey Andrews and Breukelen Woodard also added goals in the final 10 minutes to turn a tight contest into a 5-0 lopsided win over Mount St. Mary’s. Allie Trzaska (Yardley, Pa.) had a pair of assists in the match.
Two days later, Penn followed it up with a narrow win decided by a 63rd minute penalty kick from Emily Sands (West Chester, Pa.). Kitty Qu recorded clean sheets in both matches, having only to make a single save in the first game and a pair of saves in the second. She now has seven clean sheets in her career.
The 2-0 start is the first for the Quakers since 2015. They finished 6-4-6 that season.
Other Local Action from Week 2
-Villanova opened their home schedule with a pair of wins at Higgins Soccer Complex over James Madison and Lehigh.
Chloe O’Neill contributed a goal and an assist in both matches and leads the team in both categories. The Wildcats have won three straight after a season-opening loss to Lafayette, two by just one goal and one lopsided 4-0 win over Lehigh.
-Temple outscored opponents 5-0 over the weekend with wins over Sacred Heart and Delaware State to improve to 2-1-0 on the season.
Jules Blanks (Philadelphia, Pa.) and Emma Wilkins (Galloway, N.J.) scored in the win over Sacred Heart. Morgan Basileo (Philadelphia, Pa.) made six saves in the first clean sheet and split time with Cassy Skelton and Jordan Nash to secure the clean sheet in Dover. Wilkins, Kerri McGinley (Philadelphia, Pa.) and Emily Keitel (Mechanicsburg, Pa.) provided the goals against Delaware State.
-Drexel settled for their second draw of the season against visiting Ivy Leaguers Columbia on Friday night. Shaelyn McCarty (Doylestown, Pa.) scored her second of the season to tie the match in the 79th minute and Dragons goalkeeper Libby Baeza made six saves.
-Claudia Jenkins picked up her third straight clean sheet and Marcelo Robinson headed home a corner kick from Jenna Soriano in the 7th minute to lift La Salle to their third straight win to start the 2018 campaign at home Thursday night.
-St. Joseph’s stayed unbeaten to start the season with a 2-1 win at James Madison on Sunday. Taylor Ryan (Medford, N.J.) set up Morgan Bower’s first half goal and converted the eventual game-winner from the spot in the 53rd minute to lift the Hawks to their second win of the season. Grace Bendon (Doylestown, Pa.) made five saves in goal. Mackenzie Ehresman (Jamison, Pa.) scored the lone goal in a 1-1 draw with Rutgers on Thursday.
Locals Elsewhere
-Tziarra King (Sicklerville, N.J.) set up the game-winning goal in overtime for NC State in their 1-0 win over Monmouth. King scored twice in the Wolfpack’s season opening 2-1 win over Navy.
-Rachael Dorwart (Mechanicsburg, Pa.) assisted Taylor Otto’s 53rd minute equalizer in North Carolina’s 1-1 draw with Texas on Wednesday and assisted Taylor Otto’s game-winning goal to beat UCF 1-0 on Sunday.
-Sophomore Sydney Zandi (West Chester, Pa.) scored her first collegiate goal in Virginia’s 3-0 win over William & Mary on Thursday. She registered her first career assist in the Hoos 2-1 win over Colgate in their season opener.
-After being moved to forward in the second half, sophomore defender Kim Sanford (Philadelphia, Pa.) scored her first college goal in the 63rd minute and then assisted on the game-winning goal seven minutes later in Eastern Carolina’s 2-1 win over Davidson on Sunday.
This Week
La Salle hosts Drexel tonight at 7 p.m. before hitting the road to play at Colgate on Thursday.
Penn welcomes Tziarra King and NC State on Friday night, Maryland comes to town to play Temple on Friday and Drexel on Sunday and Temple hosts Central Connecticut on Sunday afternoon at 3:30 p.m.
Villanova travels to South Carolina to play Clemson on Friday and visits Brown two days later, St. Joseph’s has Princeton away.