PITTSBURGH, Pa. – The Franciscan women's soccer team dropped a hard-fought tight 1-0 match to La Roche in AMCC action, Wednesday afternoon.

After a scoreless first half in which the Lady Barons out-shot La Roche 10-7, the Redhawks were the first to score with less than nine minutes to play in regulation. Marissa Johnson took a free kick from outside the box and placed it in the upper left 90 to give La Roche the 1-0 lead and eventual win.

Franciscan was not without chances, however, as the Lady Barons out-shot La Roche 12-7 in the second half as well and 22-14 for the game. Franciscan put 12 of those shots on goal, forcing the La Roche goalie to work hard on the back line.

"We really did a great job at keeping our composure on the backline today and working the ball forward," remarked head coach Clare McBane."We had some beautiful builds through the midfield and into the box and we took good shots today. And that's something we really have been working on. We can hit the crossbar or post so many times before the goals start coming, and they will start to come."

Franciscan had a few scoring opportunities late in the second half after the La Roche goal but the Lady Barons couldn't find the back of the net. After a corner kick by Elizabeth Dawyot was cleared out, senior Clare Kennedy put a shot on target by the Redhawk goalie made a stop. Senior Megan Luiso got off the last shot for the Lady Barons with just under five minutes to play, but the ball went just wide and the score held, 1-0, at the final buzzer.

The Lady Baron offense was led by Luiso with four shots, two on goal, while all three of Dawyot's shots were on goal. Freshman Gracie Tillman also finished the game with three shots.

On the back line, junior Sarah Luebking was once again the anchor of the Lady Baron defense. Luebking finished the game with four saves, including a perfect stop of a penalty kick midway through the first half.

"Sarah was incredible once again for us," remarked Coach McBane. "She really is the anchor to our backline and came up with a couple of really fantastic saves, including stopping a PK and you can't ask for much more than that."

Senior Sarah Schriner shined for Franciscan on the backline and helped to keep playing moving forward and to keep the composure on defense for the Lady Barons.

"We have five games left and all we can do is to keep stepping forward, so that's what we are going to do," commented Coach McBane. "We are going to keep getting better and our hard work is going to pay off."

The Lady Barons welcome Pitt.-Bradford to Steubenville on Saturday as Franciscan will honor its six seniors prior to the 3:30 pm game.