The men’s and women’s soccer teams started up their 2018 campaigns with The Herb Lauffer Memorial Tournament. Considering both teams are the favorite to win the AMCC Conference, expectations were high, and each team delivered. The women were able to make it to the final game, only to suffer a 2-0 loss to the Otterbein Cardinals, while the men matched Geneseo in the final game. Regardless, it was an eventful tournament that brought bright hopes for strong seasons.

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The women’s tournament started on Saturday with a matchup against the Baldwin Wallace Yellow Jackets. Behrend managed two goals in the first half, the first coming from Ashlyn Whipple less than a minute into the game. Behrend’s second goal came midway through the first half Emily Indof on an assist from Brenna McGuire, who also assisted on the first goal. Goalkeeper Madi Jones did not allow a single ball in the net, as the Yellow Jackets did not manage to get a ball on the net. Defense ruled the rest of the game and the Lions got the 2-0 victory to move on to the final round.

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In the championship game, the Lions squared off against Otterbein, who had defeated Thomas More in the previous round by a three-goal margin. Katie Exline netted a short range goal late in the first half to give the Cardinals the initial lead. The Lions could only muster one shot on goal in the first half, which Otterbein goalie Erin Gordon halted. Priscilla Severance added a goal for the Cardinals that snuck by Jones. Behrend tried to get the offense going in the second half to try and make up the deficit, but were unable to do so as they took the loss.

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The men’s team fared admirably against the Houghton Highlanders in the first game of the HLM Tournament on Friday, capturing a narrow one-goal victory. Brice Bogna got the scoring started in the 38th minute with his first goal in his collegiate career. Less than a minute into the second half, Behrend responded with an unassisted Christian Eckberg goal. The Lions continually kept the pressure on in the second half, putting seven total shots up, only three of which were on goal. After nearly 26 minutes of sporadic pressure, Richard Blanchard dished a pass to Jason Angelo, who netted the winning goal of the game for Behrend.

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Saturday saw the Geneseo Knights and Behrend Lions battle to a two-overtime tie in which neither team could muster a goal. The teams combines for 11 shots on goal in the match, all of which were stopped by netminders Chris Ralph and Dillon Medd. Behrend nearly scored toward the end of the game when Medd stopped a ripper from Nick Schwarzel and the subsequent rebound from Angelo. Ralph secured the tie with a diving save in the 107th minute, making the Knights and Lions co-champions of the HLM Tournament.

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With the HLM Tournament behind them, both the men’s and women’s teams look to keep their strings of good fortune alive with two matchups each over the weekend. The men will take on John Carroll at home this Friday and take to the road to face Hiram on Sunday. The women will participate in the Drew Tournament versus the Bard Raptors and Coast Guard Bears this Saturday and Sunday.