Brandywine Knocks Off NHTI; Secures National Title Berth

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. – Penn State Brandywine built a two-goal lead less than five minutes into the game and never looked back as the third-seeded Lions clinched their first-ever appearance in the United States Collegiate Athletic Association Women's Soccer Tournament National Championship following a 6-2 victory over NHTI Sunday afternoon.

Brandywine, playing just its fourth season as a varsity program, went 2-0 in pool play, also defeating Albany College of Pharmacy two days earlier, to claim their spot in the championship game. The Lions, in their first season under the direction of Head Coach Elise Pratt, will face the No. 1 seed, Cincinnati-Clermont Monday afternoon at 1:00 PM for the national title.

A victory would give Brandywine its first national championship in any sport and make the Lions only the third team from the Penn State University Athletic Conference to earn a title.

Three-time all-American Brianna Banks (Philadelphia, Pa./Parkway Center) supplied three goals for the Lions, while Angelina Maroulis (Brookhaven, Pa./Sun Valley), Meltem Ozdemir (Carney's Point, N.J./St. Mark's) and Emily Jefferson (Sparta, N.J./Pope John XXIII Regional) also found the back of the net. Averie Florschutz (Chadds Ford, Pa./Kennett) dealt out a pair of assists.

Banks got the scoring started with a penalty kick just 62 seconds into the game after she was taken down from behind in the box. Maroulis doubled the lead two minutes later, heading in Arianna Segich's (Ocean City, N.J./Ocean City) corner kick.

The Lynx got one goal back in the 11^th minute, but Ozdemir pushed the lead back to two, scoring off a feed from Rachel Weir (Neptune City, N.J./Red Bank Regional) at the 31:36 mark.

Banks added her second tally early in the second half before Jefferson tapped in a rebound in front to make the score 5-1 in the 60^th minute. Banks completed her hat trick and the Lions' scoring output with under 20 minutes to go in regulation.

Brandywine put 16 of its 19 shots on goal, outshooting NHTI 19-15. Goalkeeper Emily Bush (Bayville, N.J./Central Regional) turned aside six shots to earn the win in net.

The Lions will face Cincinnati-Clermont in the title game after Clermont won Pool A with a 2-0 record. UCC claimed victories by scores of 2-1 and 1-0 and brings a record of 13-2 into the title game.

The teams' have one common opponent this season in Penn State Schuylkill. Brandywine owns a 9-0 victory over Schuylkill, while Clermont defeated Schuylkill 8-0.