MEADVILLE, Pa. – The Allegheny women's soccer team dropped a 3-1 non-conference bout to Grove City under the lights at Frank B. Fuhrer Field.

In an evenly-played match, the Wolverines (7-3) scored all three goals in a 24-minute span in the second half to run their winning streak to five. For the Gators (5-5), it marked their first home loss of the 2018 season.

The Gators went on the attack early on, and nearly scored the first goal of the game just four minutes in, but Taylor Renk's blast from 10 yards out, off of an Isabella Martinez through ball, went just high, and clanged off the inside of the crossbar.

Allegheny continued to have the better of the possession over the next several minutes, and were granted their first corner kick just over six minutes into play. Kelli Gaus took a shot off of the Martinez corner from 15 yards out, but it was blocked away by the Grove City back line, and the game remained scoreless.

The Wolverines then awakened, and would seize control for the duration of the half. In the 12th minute, the visitors looked primed to take an early lead, but Allegheny keeper Maya Hackman made a pair of sprawling saves from point blank range following a corner kick.

Grove City continued to attack on offense, out-shooting the Gators 6-0 between the 16th and 26th minutes, but two were saved by Hackman, two were blocked by the defense, and two went wide.
Following the 10 minute Wolverine surge, play would even out for the final 15 minutes of the half. Neither team recorded a shot over the span, and the game remained scoreless at the intermission.
Grove City out-shot Allegheny 7-2 in the first half, while also owning a 3-1 advantage in corner kicks.

As was the case in the opening frame, the Gators again controlled play for much of the early portion of the second half, out-shooting the Wolverines 5-1 in the first 10 minutes of the final frame. Hackman turned aside the lone Grove City shot, while Wolverine keeper Alexa Dunn made a pair of saves over the span to keep it scoreless.

The Wolverines would finally break through with just over 33 minutes left to play. Following a Grove City foul deep inside their offensive end, Hackman would take the ensuing free kick. She blasted the ball toward midfield, but it immediately took a fortuitous bounce back into Allegheny's defensive end. Grove City's Maggie Williams would then float it toward goal, and teammate Krista Heckman won a footrace with Hackman and chipped it into the cage to make it 1-0.

Less than a minute after Heckman's goal, Hackman turned in another big save, but the Wolverines continued to attack, and added an insurance tally with 27:45 to go, when Michaela Burke scored off of a nice pass across the width of the field from Heckman to make it 2-0.

After the second Grove City goal, Allegheny would slowly take control. With 20 minutes left, Shannon McGuinn sent a blast just wide. The Wolverines would commit a foul following the ensuing goal kick, granting the Gators a free kick from 40 yards out. Sarah Lipniskis blasted it on goal, and Alex Klare nudged it through the Grove City wall and to the foot of a streaking McGuinn, who buried it for her fourth goal of the season to make it a one-goal game with 18:08 left to play.

The Gators quickly got possession back, and less than a minute after McGuinn's tally, were granted a corner kick. Martinez sent it into traffic in front, and it deflected to Amber Lisman, who let go a shot that beat Dunn but was knocked away by a Wolverine defender on the goal line.

Grove City would close the game's scoring out with 8:07 left to play, with Shannon Brawley connecting on a cross field pass from Heckman to make it 3-1.

Allegheny was unable to cut into the deficit, as Grove City effectively controlled play in the middle third of the field for the remainder of the match. Looking to break through the Wolverine defense, the Gators were whistled for a pair of offsides calls over the final five minutes.

The Gators possession advantage over the second half was evidenced by their 9-6 advantage in shots, and 5-1 margin in corner kicks.

McGuinn and Renk each had three of Allegheny's 11 shots on the evening, while Hackman finished with six saves in goal.  Dunn made three shots, all in the second half, to earn the win for Grove City.

The Gators will return to action on Tue. Oct. 20, when they close the non-conference portion of their schedule with a 7:30 p.m. bout at Case Western Reserve.