Box Score The Lancaster Bible College women's soccer team won the school's first-ever North Eastern Athletic Conference Championship on Sunday, defeating Penn St. Berks, 2-0 in Reading, Pa. With the win, the Chargers receive the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III National Tournament. (The Chargers received the bid last season as well due to the fact Penn St. Abington was not eligible after defeating LBC in the NEAC Final.)

A scoreless first half saw each team earn very few scoring chances, but Penn St. Berks earned the first half's best scoring chance as Caitlin Deibler drilled a shot that was going in, but Chargers' goalkeeper Emily Lloyd's outstretched hand caught a piece of the ball and deflected it off the crossbar and away from the goal.

"Emily's save and another save that Sarah Heilenman actually made in the second half were turning points for us," Chargers' Head Coach Ken Craul said. "We sort of just endured in the first half, but we defended well and Em's save was a big part of that." 

LBC began to control play a bit more in the second half and their hard work paid off at the 60:40 mark when Whitney Heise collected a ball from Heilenman and drilled a shot over Nittany Lions' goalkeeper Savannah Cramer to make it, 1-0.  

Minutes later, Heilenman made her defensive save as she headed a ball that was headed toward the back of the net to keep the Chargers ahead, 1-0. The Nittany Lions continued to look for the equalizing goal, but LBC did a good job of clearing the ball on the defensive end and even continued to generate their own scoring chances.

"We told the ladies at halftime that it was time for some of them to step up and finish the job," Craul said. "We didn't do that in last season's NEAC Final and we wanted to make sure we left everything out here today."

With just under six minutes to play, Heise buried the Nittany Lions with one of her signature short-side shots that beat Cramer to the left and gave LBC a 2-0 advantage. 

"Another trademark goal by Heise," Craul said. "Scoring those types of big goals is just something she has done for us for four years."

The game ended with a somber feel however as a Penn St. Berks player was injured with 1:29 to play and an ambulance had to be called to attend to her. Each team's coaches met with the officials and the game was called with 1:29 to play and the NEAC Championship belonged to the Chargers.

"We have been working all season long on playing as one unit," Chargers' Assistant Coach Doug Huff said. "One game it would be the defense, the other, the offense, but today, everything came together and we played as a team and everyone gave full effort."

The Chargers held a 14-10 advantage in shots and an 8-4 edge in corner kicks.

Heise's two goals give her 20 for the year and tie her for the team lead with Monica Horning. She now has 59 for her career, which is the most in LBC history. 

The Chargers (17-4) will find out their opponent for the First Round of the NCAA Division III Tournament on Monday when the games are announced. LBC faced nationally ranked William Smith last season in opening round of the tournament.

Notes:
-Just like last season, the NEAC Women's Soccer Champion was the second seed who defeated an undefeated first seed in the Final.

-With 20 goals, Horning and Heise are each one goal away from tying the LBC single-season record set by Hannah Gruver in 2004.