Sophomore Arielle Gordon provided the only scoring the Lady Eagles needed in today's match

LOCK HAVEN, Pa. - The Lock Haven University women’s soccer team (5-7-1) topped visiting Mansfield University (2-6-1) 1-0 today at McCollum Field in a hard-fought game

The Lady Eagles saw several new faces dot the line up as they were without several normal starters, but it didn’t seem to faze the Haven as they took control of today’s match from the opening whistle.

Their early hustle paid off as rookie Arielle Gordon (Ephrata, Pa./Ephrata) scored a goal in just the fourth minute of play.

Gordon was able to cut in past the Mansfield defense, finding herself alone going one-on-one toward goal and she took full advantage tucking the ball near post from 10 yards out.

The Lady Eagles would created plenty of chances in the remaining 86 minutes of action, but Gordon’s goals was all LHU needed to earn the well deserved victory.

Lock Haven was aided in today’s action by the four softball players and a lacrosse player who stepped in with the Lady Eagles shorthanded.

Several of these new faces saw quality action including sophomore lacrosse player Whitney Dixon (Geneva, N.Y./Midlakes) who made her presence known after getting the start.

Senior goalkeeper Emily Wagner (Brick, N.J./Brick Township) played another solid 90 minutes in the goal for LHU.

The Brick, N.J. native was just that she turned away several quality Mansfield chances on her way to a five-save effort. She needs only three saves to become the Lady Eagles all-time career saves leader.

Her best save of the game with under eight minutes to go in the first half as she made a fully-extended diving save to her right side, pushing the ball wide with her right hand.

With less than 20 minutes to go in the first half Lock Haven really applied the pressure creating several very good scoring opportunities, but they were unable to find the back of the net.

Senior forward Colleen Kafka (Candor, N.Y./Candor) had a fantastic chance to put LHU up 2-0 but her header on goal off a corner was saved by Mansfield’s Justine Segear.

Gordon who had another strong game and was responsible for setting up several key Haven chances almost netted her second goal of the game with 15 minutes to go in the first half as she found herself all alone again, but she pushed her shot wide right.

In the second half LHU continued to press, but couldn’t find their second goal of the game.

Lock Haven almost got the insurance they needed late with under six minutes to go as senior-captain Kyleigh Roth (Elysburg, Pa./Southern Columbia) broke past the defense sending a ball right across the goal mouth, but nobody was able to poke it home for the Haven.

The Lady Eagles certainly dominated the flow of the game from the start and it showed as they outshot Mansfield 15-8 for the game.

LHU head coach Heather Davis was very pleased with her team’s effort today especially since they were without a number of the regulars.

“We played with a lot of Haven pride today,” Davis said. “We are ecstatic with the result and big thanks go to out to softball and lacrosse.”

The Lady Eagles are back in action on Monday, October 1 at 6 p.m. when they travel to Clarion University for Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) West Action.