The women’s soccer team fell to Lourdes University on Saturday, Sept. 4, losing 2-1 at home in their third game of the season. The Pioneers now fall to 0-3 on the season and will look to bounce back on the road next week against Shawnee State University.

The Pioneers faced off against the Lourdes University Gray Wolves, in another out of conference matchup for Point Park to start off the year. Lourdes, who had tied with the University of Rio Grande three days earlier, were also looking for their first win of the season, and left Pittsburgh 1-0-1 to start off their season. The Gray Wolves struck first in the contest, scoring at the 38th minute to give Lourdes the early go ahead in the match. Lourdes came out firing in the first half, taking 8 shots and landing with 5 of them landing on net, compared to Point Park who was only able to muster a single shot in the first half that also landed on net.

The second half was started off by another Lourdes’ goal, with the Gray Wolves scoring in the 54th minute to go for the game winning goal. Point Park would try to mount a comeback though, when a Lourdes starter was given a yellow card in the back end of the 59th minute. The Pioneers used this to try and flip the moment and would get a good start with their first goal of the season, a shot by sophomore Cara Spry. Spry’s goal came off a free kick attempt by freshman Tamaya Wolford, who shot it off the far post. Sophomore Athena Beck would get a foot on the ball first before Spry got her shot off, giving both Beck and Wolford the assists.
“I believe that that goal against Lourdes was a turning point for us,” sophomore Ella Serlin said. “It’s just the beginning of what is going to be a well fought season.”

Point Park would continue to try and come back but couldn’t crack the score sheet again before time ran out. The game ended with the Pioneers only getting 4 shots off, with 2 landing on net. The Gray Wolves would end up with 16 shots, putting 11 of them on goal. The Pioneers also split goalkeeper duties for this game, with freshman Gillian Bierhals starting the first 45 minutes with 4 saves, with Serlin coming in for the second half with 5 saves. Wolford would also be the one to lead the team in shots, taking 2 and landing 1 on net in the contest.

The Pioneers will look to dig themselves out of a hole with their upcoming game, a road trip to Portsmouth, Ohio to play another out of conference game against the Shawnee State University Bears. The game will be at 5 p.m. ET on Wednesday, Sept. 8. Point Park will then travel back home to Pittsburgh and Highmark stadium for a game on Sunday, Sept. 12 against the Madonna University Crusaders.

“I think that we are a group of highly competitive women, who are all wanthing that win,” Serlin said. “We know it’s right there, if we continue to work hard towards our shared goal.”

The Bears currently stand at 3-1-0 on the season, while the Crusaders are currently 2-0-0.