The Lancaster Bible women's soccer team earned its third straight shutout on Saturday as the Chargers defeated Cairn, 4-0 on Homecoming at Lancaster Bible College. Freshman Emily Beltran had her first career hat trick as she scored the final three goals of the game to lead the Chargers. 

Senior Monica Lambertson, playing in her final Homecoming game, opened the scoring at the 12:31 mark as she converted a beautiful cross from sophomore Alyssa Wesner. Wesner stole the ball from a Cairn defender on the end line and found Lambertson alone in the box for the game's first tally.

Just 28 seconds later Beltran dribbled through the defense and blasted a shot from 23 yards out that found the right-hand side of the net past Cairn goalkeeper Mackenzie Paugh. Beltran scored her second of the game 14 minutes later when junior Bethany Stein played a perfect through ball and Beltran collected the ball and put it past Paugh again.

The score remained 3-0 through halftime as Cairn opened the second half with several minutes of possession, but could not convert it into a goal. Beltran put the finishing touches on her great day at the 60:56 mark as she collected the ball in the box and completed the 21st hat trick in Lancaster Bible women's soccer history.

Lancaster Bible goalkeeper Kaitlyn Scheuing made five saves for her sixth shutout of the season as the Chargers improved to 7-2 this season. 

"I thought we played well today," Lancaster Bible Head Coach Ken Craul said. "We had some great play from our forward position today as well as in the midfield."

The Chargers will now gear up for a pivotal North Eastern Athletic Conference game on Tuesday evening at Penn St. Abington. The game has large playoff implications and has been close in each of the past three seasons. 

"Abington is a tough place to play, but we match up well with them and looking forward, this is a team we will have to beat later in the season if we are to have success in the postseason," Craul said. 

Tuesday's game is scheduled to begin at 5 p.m.

Notes:
-Cairn still leads the all-time series, 10-7-2, but has not defeated the Chargers in the regular season since 2008.

-Lambertson is just six goals away from tying Whitney Heise for the most goals in program history.

-Craul needs just two more wins to reach 75 for his career.