COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – The Ursinus College women's soccer team fell into another early deficit against a national power and could not climb out on Saturday, eventually succumbing to a 4-0 defeat against No. 12 TCNJ.
The Lions (3-0) jumped on top with a pair of goals in the first 14 minutes of the contest. In the 6th minute, Christine Levering's shot from close range was blocked but fell right to the feet of Kayla Bertolino, who blasted home the rebound to open the scoring.
Exactly seven minutes later, a Lion was taken down in the box on a run, setting up a TCNJ penalty kick that Elizabeth Thoresen converted to the lower left corner of the net.
Despite the rough start, the Bears (0-3-1) - playing a nationally ranked opponent for the second time in as many outings - hung in for the rest of the half, and Kalkstein made a couple nice saves to hold the Lions off the board. TCNJ came roaring back after intermission, however, building a 3-0 lead on Kelly Carolan's long-range shot in the 53rd minute.
Kalkstein made several impressive saves over the next ten minutes and change, including a scrambling stop on a rebound to prevent an easy finish after she had already saved an initial effort, but the Lions added to their lead on a corner kick in the 64th minute. Jessica Goldman's corner went to Christine Levering in the middle of the box, and Levering's pass found Hannah Richman for a tap-in right in front of the net.
TCNJ posted a 23-2 advantage in shots and racked up 16 corner kicks to none for the Bears. Kalkstein tallied six saves before giving way to freshman Sabrina Doherty, who took both Ursinus shots as a field player before spending the final 25:35 between the pipes. Doherty made her first career save with just over five minutes remaining.
The Bears head to Elizabethtown for a non-conference clash on Tuesday, September 12.