STEUBENVILLE, Ohio – Franciscan University women's soccer honored their former teammate, Amanda Looman who was in a serious car accident on October 13. The team wore wrist bands with Looman's #1 written on them and hung her jersey on the fence over the field in her memory. 

Strong winds, bitter cold, and fourth place ranked Penn St.–Altoona couldn't keep the Lady Barons from securing a win for Amanda. Rather apropiately the stars of the game were those playing her former position, forward.  Franciscan defeated the Lady Lions 2-0, scoring twice in the first half.

The Lady Barons set the tone of the match from the kick off almost scoring within the first few minutes on a long ball to junior forward Jordan Byrley who got to the ball but couldn't connect.

The Barons repeated the tactic but with better results in the twenty-sixth minute when a long punt from goalkeeper Mallory Garthwaite bounced over the Altoona defense. Byrely out sprinted the Lady Lion defenders to get the ball under control and chip it over the oncoming goalie.

"Yesterday all we did was work on lifting the ball over the top to get breakaways," head coach Clare McBane said. "We've got two girls who are very good at breakaways. We started playing to our strengths."

Ten minutes later, Franciscan's breakaway part three worked just as perfectly. The Lady Barons defense played a ball high in the center of the field. Byrely showed her speed again and out-stripped Altoona's defense, before crossing to sophomore Hannah Cooke, who put it away in the back of the net.

"Getting the ball up top was our focus in practice," McBane said. "Clearly it paid off."

During halftime, the weather took a turn for the worse and the Lady Barons started the second half fighting wind, mud, and rain. Playing into the wind, balls didn't go as far, or lift as high, making it difficult for Franciscan's offense to continue their 'over-the-top" strategy.

"We started to struggle I think because of the wind," McBane said. "All of the balls that we were trying to lift over the top didn't go as far or were getting blocked."

With their offense engaged in a battle with both Altoona and the weather, Franciscan's defense, led by sophomore Mary Duran, stepped up, playing arguably the best game of their season. Duran and the rest of the Lady Barons created a nearly impenetrable line to stop Altoona's strikers and forced them to take shots from far outside the box.

"I would give this game to Mary," McBane said. "The whole back line worked very hard but if it wasn't for her, wasn't for how on she was today, this would have been a very different game."

By the end of the second half, the Lady Barons adjusted their style of play to account for the increased wind and slippery field and began to show strong progress towards scoring again. By keeping the ball on the ground and playing a more patient game, they slowly began to look like the offensive team from the first half.

"They played very well and they fought very hard," McBane said. "They knew how critical it was for us to make it to playoffs and they gave it all they had. I couldn't be more proud."

The win puts Franciscan in good position to qualify for the AMCC playoffs for the first time in program history. The Lady Barons look to secure that spot at home on October 26 against Pitt – Bradford at 3pm.