LANCASTER, Pa. – The Penn State Abington Nittany Lions won the 2011 North Eastern Athletic Conference women’s soccer championship after defeating the Lancaster Bible College Chargers in penalty kicks yesterday.  It is the first NEAC title that Abington has won in any sport since joining the conference in 2009.

Penn State Abington, which entered the tournament as the No. 2 seed and made it to the championship with a 1-0 victory over No. 3 seed Penn State Harrisburg in the semifinals, won the penalty kick shootout 4-2 after a spectacular match that ended 2-2 through two overtimes.  After each team went 2-for-3 in the best-of-five shootout, sophomore Alyssa Kaye (Levittown, Pa.) would connect on Abington’s fourth attempt.  A Charger misfire on their next attempt opened the door for Abington to seal the deal, and junior midfielder Brittany Palmer (Philadelphia, Pa.) found the back of the net to clinch the match and title for Abington.

Freshman goalkeeper and All-Conference First Team selection Gabrielle Benedict (Jamison, Pa.) was named the tournament’s most valuable player after recording eight saves in two contests and coming up with some big stops in the shootout.

The thrilling conclusion was a fitting end to a phenomenal contest.  After a scoreless first half, the action would heat up with a back-and-forth second half.  The Lions were the first ones on the board when Kaye scored off a corner kick from Palmer two minutes into the half. The Chargers would answer with two goals within three minutes of each other from freshman Monica Horning (Lititz, Pa.) in the 64th minute and  junior Whitney Heyse (Danville, Pa.) in the 67th minute to take a 2-1 lead, but two minutes later Abington junior Brittany Middleton (Chalfont, Pa.) tied it back up with a goal and made it 2 all.  The contest would remain at that score through the rest of the game and two 10-minute sudden death overtime periods, which led to the epic shootout.

Despite falling in the championship, Lancaster Bible College will still advance to the NCAA Division III Tournament due to Penn State Abington not yet being a full NCAA member and thus being ineligible to receive the NEAC's automatic qualifier bid.  The Chargers, who were the top seed and host of the tournament, will find out their opponent and the site of their next match during the NCAA selection show today at 1:30 p.m., which can be found here.

**************************************************************************************************************************************************************

The North Eastern Athletic Conference has thirteen NCAA Division III member institutions which include: Cazenovia College, College of St. Elizabeth, Gallaudet University, Keuka College, Lancaster Bible College, Pennsylvania State University - Abington, Pennsylvania State University - Berks, Pennsylvania State University -Harrisburg, SUNY Cobleskill, SUNY Institute of Technology, SUNY Morrisville State College, Wells College, and Wilson College.  Associate members are: Hilbert College (M Lacrosse), Medaille College (M&W Lacrosse) and Rutgers University - Camden (M Golf).  The North Eastern Athletic Conference has partnered with the North Atlantic Conference in the sports of baseball, women’s lacrosse, and men’s and women’s tennis.