The Lancaster Bible College Women's Soccer team started off their season at home Friday evening facing non-conference foe, the Houghton Highlanders. The Chargers found themselves with a 4-1 lead with just a quarter of the game, left but the Highlanders were not done as they stormed back to end the game in a 4-4 draw. Both the Chargers and the Highlanders begin their 2024 season 0-0-1.
How It Happened: The Chargers opened
their season on their home turf looking for a hot start, and that's exactly what they got. Coming out of the gate with confidence, sophomore
Isabella Eufemia struck a nice chip shot that bounced off the goalie's hand into the back of the net at the fifth minute. It didn't take too long for the team to capitalize off the momentum, as Eufemia found freshman
Allie Zuber who scored her first collegiate goal 11 minutes into her first collegiate soccer game. This gave the Chargers a comfortable lead to start the first half, but this didn't last long. The Highlanders were able to snag a goal of their own with 27:40 left in the half. The rest of the period was a standoff as both teams had chances, but nothing was converted. Chargers headed into halftime up 2-1.
The second half started off the same way the first did, with a Chargers scoring spree. Eufemia added to the Chargers lead with a pair of goals. The first was nine minutes into the half off a pass from senior
Jade Weir, followed by another just five minutes later as she broke through the defense to net her third goal. This was Eufemia's first hat trick of her collegiate career and awarded the Chargers with an early 4-1 lead in the second half.
As the half progressed the Chargers' lead began to dwindle, as Houghton began to up their offensive tempo. The Highlanders scored a goal in the 60-minute, followed by another goal in the 67th minute, and then the final game tying goal with just a little over four minutes left in the game. Putting a lot of pressure on both teams to try to secure one more goal to put them ahead, none of the tries ended up successful. The game ended in a 4-4 draw.
From the Coach: "I thought it was a good result against a quality opponent today. Obviously letting a lead slip at the end is hard to accept. But it's something we'll grow from and adapt to as we progress forward." -
Head Coach Jake Warren
By the Numbers: The Chargers trailed the Highlanders in shots 16-11... freshman goalkeeper
Carissa Mulder grabbed nine saves in her first collegiate game... the Highlanders won the corner kick battle 6-1... Eufemia had a game-high three goals and added an assist... Zuber added one goal and Weir had an assist... Natalie Milne scored two goals for the Highlanders.
Information to Know: This was the Chargers' sixth matchup with the Highlanders, losing five of those six contests... Eufemia notched her first hat trick and Zuber had her first collegiate goal.
Up Next: Catch the Chargers back in action as they host Marywood on September 4 at 7:00 p.m.
