Brandywine Falls In USCAA Opener

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. -- Top-seeded UC Clermont scored four times during the first 10:17 of the second half to clip fifth-seeded Penn State Brandywine 6-2 during the opening match of the United States Collegiate Athletic Association Women's Soccer Tournament on Friday afternoon.

In a rematch of the 2018 national championship game, Brandywine faced an early 1-0 deficit, but battled back with consecutive goals to grab the lead.

After a corner kick, Bryonna Worthy (Old Bridge, N.J./The Hun School of Princeton) drove home the tying goal during a scramble in front of the net at the 32:47 mark. Ten minutes later, the Lions used another scramble following a corner to take the lead as Meltem Ozdemir (Carney's Point, N.J./St. Mark's) headed in the go-ahead tally.

Clermont answered with the tying score with less than one minute to play in the opening half. Tara Claus found the back of the net 2:13 into the second half, giving UCC a 3-2 edge and Ally Brown added three tallies over the next eight minutes to help secure the match.

Goalkeeper Emily Bush (Bayville, N.J./Central Regional) made a pair of stops during 90 minutes in net, while UCC keeper Julia Thomas stopped one shot. Brandywine tallied three shots on goal with two coming from Ozdemir.

Brandywine finishes out pool play Sunday at noon against No. 4 seed Southern Maine CC.