NEW WILMINGTON, Pa. - The Westminster College women's soccer team shut out the Penn State Altoona Lions at home inside Harold Burry Stadium on Wednesday evening by a score of 5-0.
Westminster improved to 2-1, while Penn State Altoona dropped to 0-2-1 on the season.
After seventeen minutes into the contest, the Titans got on the board first when senior
Kayla Trozzi (Monroeville, PA / Gateway), the reigning Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) Offensive Player of the Week, notched her first goal of the game to give the Titans a 1-0 lead. Trozzi struck again in the 25th minute, notching her second goal of the contest to extend the Westminster lead to 2-0. Trozzi scored one more time, as she received a feed from junior
Marissa Grande (Hubbard, OH / Hubbard) to notch the first-half, hat trick. On top of her assist, Grande also netted her first goal of the season in the 33rd minute to give the Titans a 4-0 lead. To cap off the offensive surge, senior
Kaelyn Puhalla (Youngstown, OH / Austintown-Fitch) tallied her first goal of the year in the 34th minute to give Westminster a 5-0 lead, a lead they would hold for the rest of the contest.
Trozzi's hat trick was the second of her career, and her first since Oct. 17, 2018 in a 5-0 victory against Bethany College. This also marked Trozzi's fifth career multi-goal performance.
Trozzi led with five shots, while first-years
Hannah Knoll (Karns City, PA / Karns City) and
Sophia Kaplan (Mentor, OH / Mentor) tallied four shots each. The Titans bested the Lions in shots, 24-2 (12-1 on goal). Westminster earned seven corner kicks, while the Lions had two.
Sophomore
Camille Holzschuh (Youngstown, OH / Boardman) started in net, as she picked up the win for Westminster. Sophomores
Emily Beck (Sarasota, FL / Cardinal Mooney),
Olivia Droese (Pickerington, OH / Pickerington Central) and first-year
Kendra Trimbach (Ballston Lake, NY / Shenendehowa) all saw their first action in net on the season.
The Titans return to the pitch on Friday, September 6, when they travel to Buffalo, NY to take on Baldwin-Wallace in the first day of the Buffalo State Bengals Classic. Kickoff is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.
