The Penn State Altoona women's soccer team began defense of its Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference championship by defeating La Roche College, 6-0, in the AMCC quarterfinals at Mansion Park on Saturday.
The Penn State Altoona men also advanced to the semifinals later Saturday.
The Lady Lions received four goals from sophomore Emily Reimold. At the 24th minute, Reimold got a centering pass from Nikki Supsic and booted it in giving Penn State Altoona the lead.
With 16 minutes left in the half, La Roche was threatening to tie the game, but goalkeeper Lindsay Raspanti made two saves. The Lady Lions built a two-goal advantage going into halftime when Helena Tinnyo got a pass from Erin Chafardon and blasted it past La Roche goalie Raelene Zajac. Tinnyo's goal looked as if she was going to over-shoot the net, but it caught the upper corner for the score.
Penn State Altoona got its third goal five minutes into the second half from a La Roche turnover. Elizabeth Watt stole a La Roche pass, and Watt centered the ball to Supsic, who turned and shot the ball into the net.
"We talked at halftime,'' Penn State Altoona coach Tim Wassell said. "We felt if we came out in the second half and scored that third goal, we could open the game up.''
Reimold went on to to score the Lady Lions' last goals of the game. Her third and fourth goals came 20 seconds apart.
"Meredith had great services to the goal,'' Reimold said about her third goal. "I was just able to get a piece of it, and it went in.''
Wassell said his team had a real focused performance, and it was efficient in front of the goal. Penn State Altoona advanced to the semifinals to play at top seed Penn State Behrend at noon Wednesday.
The Penn State Altoona men earned a 2-1 win over Pitt-Greensburg. The Lions will play at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday at Penn State Behrend.
The Lions scored first at the 9-minute mark. Pitt-Greensburg tied the game five minutes into the second half, but Penn State Altoona scored the game-winner with 7 minutes left in the game.
