LORETTO, Pa. (Sept. 25, 2009) – Brittany Valentine (Hudson, Ohio/Walsh Jesuit/)'s (Hudson, Ohio/Walsh Jesuit) second career goal earned the Saint Francis women's soccer team a 1-0 win over in-state rival Robert Morris, giving the Red Flash their first Northeast Conference win of 2009 on Friday afternoon at the Stokes Soccer Complex in Loretto.

Jessica Boyer (Pittsburgh, Pa/Mount Lebanon) (Pittsburgh, Pa./Mount Lebanon) made eight saves to record her 13th career shut out.  The senior net minder is now tied for second in school history.

 “I'm very proud of how they fought through the game,” said head coach Brenda van Stralen.  “With this determination and persistence, they deserved the win.  We continue to work through our weaknesses to get stronger.”

The first half was a battle as the two teams traded shots.  Saint Francis made five attempts to score while Robert Morris had 4, but neither team could find the back of the net.  

Senior forward Rachel Seibert came close to putting one on net halfway through the first half, but Colonials goalkeeper Jessica Olin made a nice save to keep the score 0-0.

Twelve minutes into the second half, Olin came out to play what she thought would be a shot by Siebert on the right side of the net.  Instead, Seibert sent a beautiful pass over to Valentine, who sent the ball into the top left corner to break the tie and put the Red Flash up 1-0.  The senior defender has now scored the game-winner in two consecutive games.

With a one-goal lead, SFU played a fantastic defensive game for the rest of the second half.  The Colonials had seven shots, but still couldn't put one in to give the Red Flash the 1-0 NEC win.

Seibert attempted three of SFU's eight shots, while Valentine accounted for another two.  Chelsea Traurig (McMurray, Pa./Peters Township) (McMurray, Pa./Peters Township), Traci Flick (Montoursville, Pa./Montoursville) (Montoursville, Pa./Montoursville) and Caitlin Vultaggio (Nashua, N.H./Lawrence Academy) (Nashua, N.H./Lawrence Academy) each had a shot as well.   However, the Colonials out shot the Red Flash 11-8 in the game.

Saint Francis improves to 4-2-1 with the win.  The team will travel to Ohio to play Youngstown State in their final non-conference game of the season on Sunday at 4:00 p.m.