For the fourth time in the past six seasons, the Lancaster Bible women's soccer team opened its season with a loss to Alvernia as the Chargers fell, 3-0 to the Crusaders in Reading, Pa. Alvernia won by the same score last season in Lancaster, albeit in the second game of the season. Lancaster Bible is now 0-7 all-time against Alvernia and has scored just one time in those seven meetings (the Chargers lost, 3-1 in 2010). 

On Tuesday, the Chargers and Crusaders appeared to be heading into halftime scoreless, but Jess Bernd scored with just seconds remaining to give Alvernia, a 1-0 lead. The Chargers hung tough in the second half as the score remained 1-0 with just over 20 minutes to play. A fluke play with 19:41 remaining led to an own goal however and Alvernia doubled its lead to 2-0.

The Crusaders put the game away 10 minutes later when Bernd scored her second goal of the game, this time on a header, to give Alvernia a 3-0 advantage. 

Lancaster Bible senior goalkeeper Kaitlyn Scheuing made seven saves for the Chargers, while junior Kirsten Webster had two shots. 

"We had opportunities to score in the first half, we just needed to finish," Lancaster Bible Head Coach Leah Sipe said after her first game at the helm of the Chargers. "It was tough to give up a goal late in the first half like that, but we need to make sure we are clearing the ball quickly and moving up the field."

Despite the loss, Sipe saw many positives and hopes the team can build off of those going forward.

"We started three freshmen on defense today, so obviously they are still learning to play the collegiate game, but there were lots of positives from everyone who played today, we simply need to have more confidence in ourselves to make higher quality plays," Sipe said. 

Lancaster Bible tough non-conference schedule will be on full display on Saturday as the Chargers welcome Houghton to Charger Field for a 1 p.m. contest. 

Notes:
-Lancaster Bible is now 2-11-1 in all-time season openers and 3-10-1 all-time in road openers.

-The Chargers will play just once more on the road in September as they face Cairn on September 15 in Langhorne, Pa. Lancaster Bible's other eight contests are at home.