The Lancaster Bible College women's soccer team opened the 15th season in program history on Thursday and for the 11th time in 15 seasons, the Chargers opened the year with a loss, this time to Alvernia, 2-1 at Charger Field. After taking a 1-0 lead into halftime, the Chargers couldn't hold off the visiting Crusaders as Alvernia scored twice in a 37-second span with 19 minutes left to secure the victory.

How it Happened: Both teams spent the opening 10 minutes getting their legs as Thursday was the season-opening game for each team. After Lancaster Bible took possession of the ball in its own end, freshman Barb Foster advanced the ball up the field and after crossing midfield, eventually advanced the ball up to sophomore Abi Brady. Brady, who appeared to have been offside to everyone but the official, took the ball and shot it passed the Alvernia goalkeeper to give the Chargers a 1-0 advantage just 11:42 into the contest. The teams continued to trade possession throughout the rest of the half, but the last 10 minutes featured much of the play in Lancaster Bible's end as Alvernia began to turn the momentum a bit and earn more scoring chances.

The trend continued in the second half as Alvernia continued to have the majority of the chances, but Lancaster Bible did produce two quick chances, both from Raegan Horst, but Crusaders' goalkeeper Jessica Plunkett was up to the task both times and made good saves on both of Horst's shots. Those saves proved to be huge about 20 minutes later when Alvernia's Johnna Shank tied the game as she scored off a rebound of her own shot. Shank's initial shot was saved by Lancaster Bible goalkeeper Kaitlyn Scheuing, but the save bounced right back to Shank who put the ball into the back of the net.

Just 37 seconds later, Alvernia scored again, this time on a pretty passing play between Shank, Bailey Stover and Erica Dunkelberger who eventually scored. The shock of getting scored on twice in under a minute seemed to stay with the Chargers for much of the rest of the game as they produced little offense and couldn't get the tying goal.

By the Numbers: Lancaster Bible was outshot, 15-9 by Alvernia...The Crusaders held an 8-4 edge in the second half and Lancaster Bible didn't record a shot in the final 36:23 of the contest...Alvernia held a 6-3 edge in corner kicks...Each goalkeeper made three saves and each team recorded eight fouls.

The Coach Says: "We didn't play poorly today and it is going to take some time for everyone to mesh together, but this team needs to compete harder than they did today," Lancaster Bible Head Coach Leah Sipe-McDermott said. "I thought we could have contended for more 50-50 balls, especially in the second half."

"Kaitlyn played well in goal for us today and she really kept us in the game late in the first half and lots of parts of the second half," Sipe-McDermott said. "I think if we finish our chances and compete harder, we will be just fine."

"I think Saturday's game at Houghton is big for us because we need to have an improved work ethic and we need to bring a hard-working mentality to every practice and game so that it becomes habit," Sipe-McDermott said. 

Information Hodge Podge: Lancaster Bible is now 0-8 all-time against Alvernia...Brady's goal was just the second goal the Chargers have ever scored on Alvernia and the first since the 2010 season when Amanda Bracelin scored in a 3-1 loss...Shank led Alvernia with nine goals last season...Barb Foster's assist on Brady's goal was the first point of her collegiate career...Lancaster Bible is now 4-11 in home season openers.

Up Next: Lancaster Bible travels to Houghton, N.Y. to face Houghton College on Saturday at 2 p.m...The Chargers lost twice to the Highlanders last season...The first loss was a 2-0 defeat in Lancaster, with the second loss a 3-0 setback at Houghton in the NCCAA Division I Midwest Region Semifinals...Houghton then went on to win the NCCAA Division I National Championship.