STEUBENVILLE, Ohio – The Franciscan women's soccer team dropped a hard-fought 3-1 decision to Penn State Altoona, Wednesday afternoon.

With the loss, the Lady Barons slip to 5-6 on the year and 1-3 in the AMCC while the Lady Lions improved to 3-7 overall and 2-1 in the league.

The Lady Barons jumped out to an early 1-0 lead at the 8:03 mark. Sophomore Sarah Schiner sent in a long through ball into the box for classmate Anna McCarty. The forward collected the ball and sent a hard shot to the lower right corner for her seventh goal of the season.

The lead would be short lived, however, as the Lady Lions knotted the score just four minutes later.

After an offside call against Penn State Altoona got the Lady Barons back on offense, McCarty sent a ball at the net but the PSA keeper made a great save to keep the game tied.

"Penn State Altoona did a great job executing on those opportunities early in the game. We had a ton of chances, lots and lots, and we didn't finish them," remarked head coach Clare McBane. "That's been something we have been working on. We are a young team."

Ali Sheffler put the Lady Lions up 2-1 with 35 minutes left in the first half with her second goal of the game.

Schiner had a pair of shots saved by the PSA keeper to keep the lead intact.

The lead would remain just one until the 85:36 mark when Sherry Moore placed a free kick into the top right corner of the net to bring the score to its final, 3-1 in favor of the Lady Lions.

"We are a very young team and to lose a second starter to a very serious injury is tough but that's not the end of it. We are going to rally again and come out stronger. We just have to work on finishing."

Freshman keeper Sarah Luebking had seven saves in the win apart of another solid outing for FUS. "Sarah is very good. Sarah's only weakness is her height and she is working hard and is doing a phenomenal job overcoming her shortcomings," commented coach McBane on her starting goalie. "She She overcomes a lot of shots and a lot opportunities where a shorter goalie might not. She makes real saves."

"We are going to give our defense a little attention before we head off to Medaille and I think that will help for Sarah's sake as well."

The Lady Barons head to Buffalo, NY on Sunday to take on Medaille in a key AMCC match up. The game is slated to start at 3:15 pm.