Wagner's Hat Trick Leads Lions Over Franciscan

STUEBENVILLE, Ohio – Valerie Wagner (Pittsburgh, PA/Montour) netted her first collegiate hat trick and added an assist to lead the Penn State Behrend women's soccer team past Franciscan 7-1 in Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) action on Saturday.

The Lions (2-6, 1-0 AMCC) scored seven goals on 13 shots, netting four unanswered goals in 46 minutes including a pair from Shelby Lloyd (Beaver, PA/Beaver) to take a commanding lead that would not relinquish for their first conference win.

Danielle Pelensky (Harborcreek, PA/Harborcreek) contributed a goal and assist all in the first two goals of the game and less than a minute apart. She assisted Wagner at the 21:40 mark and then 58 seconds later scored on a pass Wagner to give the Lions a quick 2-0 lead.

Before the end of the first half, Lloyd registered her first goal with an unassisted tally to make it 3-0. Sam Vasy (North Huntingdon, PA/Norwin) netted the fourth consecutive goal for Behrend just 58 seconds after the second stanza whistle to give Behrend a good cushion for the final 44 minutes.

Franciscan interjected the four-goal run with a goal by Jordan Byrley in the 59^th minute, but the Lions put three more goals on the scoreboard within a 10-minute span to put the Barons away for good. All three goals were unassisted starting with Lloyd and the last two coming from Wagner to complete the hat trick.

Taylor Troyan (Butler, PA/Butler) got her second victory in goal and only needed to make two saves.

The Lions return to action on Tuesday at D'Youville. Game time is 7 p.m.