A year ago, the Lancaster Bible College women's soccer team breezed through the NEAC regular season with a 12-0 record and advanced to the NEAC Final with a relatively easy, 4-0 win over Penn St. Berks in the NEAC Semifinal. The joy and good times came crashing down with a penalty-kick loss to Penn St. Abington in the NEAC Final, however because Abington was not yet a full NCAA Division III member, the Chargers received the NEAC's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament. 

Fast forward to 2012 and LBC has had to fight a bit more for its 11 NEAC wins and even lost its first-ever NEAC game back on Sept. 11 to Penn St. Berks, this season's NEAC Regular Season Champion. The Chargers find themselves in the NEAC Semifinals again, this time against Penn St. Harrisburg. After experiencing their first-ever conference championship a year ago, the Chargers are hungry to get back to that game and must beat a tough Nittany Lions squad that lost just two NEAC games this season.

Chargers' Head Coach Ken Craul likes where his team is and thinks they have a better mindset for the NEAC Playoffs than they did last season.

"It's a little different than last season where it was our first time to a Division III championship as well as being the top seed," Craul said. "I think we are a little more relaxed, but our level of preparation has not changed. The players are focused and looking forward to the weekend."

The Chargers defeated Penn St. Harrisburg, 2-1 during the regular season. LBC scored twice in the first half, before the Nittany Lions cut the lead in half with just over 15 minutes to play. Harrisburg held a 12-11 edge in shots, while both teams had three corner kicks.

Penn St. Harrisburg is led by Lyndsay Naughton's 18 goals and four assists, but Naughton received a red card in the Nittany Lions', 4-1 quarterfinal win over Keuka on Wednesday and will not be eligible to play on Saturday. She scored Harrisburg's lone goal against the Chargers on Oct. 6. Fay Ansary has 12 goals for Harrisburg, while Kara Hoy has five goals and five assists.

The Chargers are led by NEAC Player of the Year, Monica Horning and her 19 goals and 9 assists. Whitney Heise has 17 goals and 11 assists, while Bethany Stein has added 11 goals and 8 assists. Sarah Heilenman and Anne Hayward anchor a defense that has allowed just one goal a game this season and has six shutouts.

Saturday's game is scheduled for 2 p.m. at top seed, Penn St. Berks. Berks will take on SUNYIT in the first semifinal which begins at 11:30 a.m. In between the two semifinals, the NEAC will hand out its conference awards which were announced on Friday.

Should the Chargers win on Saturday, the NEAC Final will be played at 1 p.m. on Sunday afternoon at Penn St. Berks.