COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – After a two-hour lightning delay, the Ursinus women's soccer team opened their 2026 season with a 5-1 defeat versus The College of New Jersey (TCNJ) on Tuesday evening at Patterson Field.
The weather delay did not slow down the Lions' offense as they recorded the first four scoring opportunities before capitalizing in the eighth minute on an unassisted goal by Isabella Charles. The Bears' defense denied TCNJ's initial chance before Charles sent an arching shot that tipped off the gloves of the Bears' netminder and found the back of the net for the game's opening goal.
Ursinus nearly answered on their first corner opportunity, before TCNJ capitalized on a loose ball within the Bears defense and Maggie Murphy gave the Lions a 2-0 lead. The Bears responded with shots from first-year
Alexis Whaley and junior
Claire Shoemaker, but both were turned away by the Lions defense. Both defenses limited scoring chances over the remainder of the first half as TCNJ held a 2-0 halftime lead.
Murphy continued to lead the Lions' offense, scoring her second goal in the 46th minute and completing her hat trick in the 49th minute to push the visitors lead to 4-0. TCNJ added their final goal at the 60:43-mark when a deflected pass found TCNJ's Alyssa Alfano on the back post, giving the visitors a five-goal advantage.
Within the final 30 seconds of the contest, first-year
Giada Monti corralled a loose ball outside the box and sent a low shot towards the far post for her first career goal, resulting in the 5-1 final.
The Lions held a 14-2 advantage in shots on goal and a 5-4 edge in corner kick opportunities. Junior netminder
Mallory Toomey suffered the loss in goal after making eight saves. TCNJ's Ellen Williams earned the victory, tallying one save over 90 minutes of action.
The Bears will return to action on Saturday, September 5th as they travel to the University of Mount Saint Vincent for a noon start.
