STEUBENVILLE, Ohio – Dominant ball possession and well organized defending gave Franciscan women's soccer its first conference win, a 3-0 victory over Mt. Aloysius College.

Coming off of a 2-0 loss to Pitt-Bradford the previous Saturday, the Lady Barons got off to a much better start against the Mounties, taking an early lead.

In the fourteenth minute, senior forward, Jordan Byrley, took a shot from the top of the penalty box. The ball glanced off the keeper and was bouncing wide when forward Ashley Ruttencutter made a full-body slide and rolled into the net with the ball.

"The shot that Jordan took is a shot we've taken several times in the last few games and have not had someone there to finish, so Ruttencutter's finish was huge," head coach Clare McBane said.

After the senior's goal, Franciscan continued to dominate the middle of field. Throughout the first half the Lady Barons made smarter passes, better tackles and were faster to loose balls than the Mounties. The one lacking part of their game was creativity with the ball once they entered the attacking third.

"The biggest thing the girls have to improve offensively is finishing on breakaways," McBane said, explaining that her team scored on just three of their 17 shots on goal.

"When you have an opportunity in the box you have to finish. We've been very good on that in that past, however."

Franciscan's next goal was scored fifteen minutes later by forward Hannah Cooke, the team's leading scorer in 2013, who returned from injury this game. The junior, who had seven shots on goal altogether, finished on an empty net after freshman midfielder Megan Lusio sidestepped the Mountie keeper on a breakaway just before the keeper's dive took out her legs.

"This was Hannah's first full game back and she's our strongest finisher," McBane said about Cooke who tallied seven shots on goal. "We definitely should've had a higher score based on the number of opportunities, but if the girls put in the effort in practice in the next few days we'll see results."

With the exception of a ten-minute period in the beginning of the second half, Franciscan's back four made possession, let alone scoring chances, a rarity for the Mt. Aloysius attack.  Senior goalkeeper Mallory Garthwaite was only called on for one save, while the Mounties got off a grand total of four shots.

"We worked on our defense a lot yesterday in practice and I'm very proud of them for making the adjustments that they needed to make," McBane said. "I'd say that was one of the best defensive games we've had this season."

The final 30 minutes of the game saw Franciscan set up even more breakaway chances than the first, but it was a free kick from sophomore midfielder Elizabeth Krilich that gave Franciscan their final goal.

While McBane said she was happy with her team's overall performance she said that they need to clean up their passing in order to win their next game, a homecoming matchup against two-time defending conference champions Penn St. – Behrend at 1pm on October 4.

"This Saturday is going to be very challenging and we need to play our best game of the year if we want to win," McBane said.