Women’s Soccer Faces Beaver In PSUAC Championship Sunday

MEDIA, Pa. -- Penn State Brandywine and Penn State Beaver will square off in the first Penn State University Athletic Conference Women's Soccer Championship on Sunday afternoon in State College.

Brandywine, playing its first season at the varsity level, finished first in the PSUAC regular season with a 6-1-1 conference record. Led by PSUAC Coach of the Year Sharif Saber, the Lions were unbeaten (5-0-1) during their final six games to lock up the top spot in the league.

The most recent victory during the Lions' unbeaten run came last Saturday at Beaver, a 4-0 triumph for Brandywine. Arianna Segich (Ocean City, N.J./Ocean City) scored twice for Brandywine, while Alyssa Abbonizio (Springfield, Pa./Springfield) turned away all six shots she faced en route to being named USCAA Goalkeeper of the Week.

The win gave Brandywine a split of the season series as Beaver captured a 6-3 victory at Brandywine on Sept. 19, handing the Lions their lone PSUAC loss. Olivia Encarnacion (Glenolden, Pa./Interboro) netted two of Brandywine's three goals and Segich added a score to give her three in two games against Beaver.

Encarnacion was the Lions' leading scorer with 10 goals and two assists for 22 points and earned First Team All-PSUAC recognition earlier this week. Joining Encarnacion on the first team were Ami Iannello (Strath Haven, Pa./Strath Haven) and Mary Mitcheli (Garnet Valley, Pa./Garnet Valley), while Amber Phillips (Brookhaven, Pa./The Christian Academy) was named to the second team. Phillips led the Brandywine defense, which allowed the fewest goals in the league.

Beaver's Morgan Stillwagon leads the PSUAC in goals (14), assists (12) and points (40) and was selected as the conference's newcomer of the year. Beaver finished the season tied for second place with a 5-3 league mark and used a 4-0 triumph over Penn State Schuylkill on Thursday to advance to the title match.