UTICA, NY - The Utica University Pioneers Women's Soccer team fell to the Penn College Wildcats by a score of 2-1 on Wednesday evening. 

Leading the way for the Pioneers was Amber Piersma (Cassville, NY/Mount Markham), who scored the lone goal for Utica, and tallied six shots, with three on goal in the contest. Rylee Lamphere (Little Falls, NY/Dolgeville) also tallied three shots of her own. Ayla Flockton (Plymouth, MA/Plymouth North) was also able to generate some offense for the Pioneers, recording two shots and assisting on Piersma's effort. In goal, Courtney Connolly (Warwick, NY/Warwick Valley) stopped three Wildcat attempts. 

The Wildcats got the scoring starting early, with Megan Kurian able to find the back of the net in the third minute. Utica would then drive down the field and fire off four shots, two from Lamphere, one from Piersma, and one from Cora Kraft (Poughquag, NY/Arlington), but to no avail. In the 14th minute, the Wildcats were able to squeeze another one by goalkeeper Connolly. The teams would battle back and forth for the rest of the opening frame to vie for possession, but both would come up empty handed for the remainder of the half. 

In the second frame, both teams would fight for possession, but it would be the Pioneers that would come out on top. In the 55th minute, Amber Piersma (Cassville, NY/Mount Markham) would be able to squeeze one past the Wildcats goalkeeper off a feed from Ayla Flockton (Plymouth, MA/Plymouth North) to bring the score within one. With momentum on their side, the Pioneers would continue to rifle off shots on the Wildcat goalkeep, but were unable to find the back of the net. 

Utica (1-1-0, 0-0 Empire 8) will be back in action this weekend at the Blue Devil Clarion Classic hosted by SUNY Fredonia. Game 1 is set to be played Friday, September 6 at 3:30p.m in Fredonia, NY.