Loretto, Pa. - Juniors Sofia Read and Emily Banes each scored a goal in the second half to lead the Towson women's soccer team to a 2-1 win over St. Francis (Pa.) Friday afternoon at Stokes Soccerplex.

Banes' tally was her team-leading ninth of the season and proved to be the game winner. She is now tied with Courtney McClelland for third place in Towson history for career points (62) and needs just four goals to be the career leader at Towson in goals scored (Christi Landi, 27). The Tigers (4-4-1) have now won all four meetings with the Red Flash (3-5-1).

"St. Francis is a very, very good soccer team, and they had a lot of possession in the first half especially," said Head Coach Greg Paynter. "[Erin] Quinn came up huge against the dangerous shots St. Francis took in the first half. It was by far her best game of the year."

Towson and St. Francis played to a scoreless draw in the first half, despite the Red Flash having an 8-2 advantage in shots.

However, Read opened the scoring at 55:36 when a Red Flash foul just outside the box gave the Tigers a dangerous free kick, and the junior capitalized with her third goal of the campaign.

"Sofia made a tremendously intelligent play to take advantage of the keeper who was off her line setting up the wall, chipping the ball over her," said Paynter.

Just over four minutes later, Banes scored on a breakaway and beat a diving Jessica Andrew.

"[On Emily's goal,] we created a turnover and a quick entry for Banes to do what she's been doing all year."

The Tigers kept up the pressure through the rest of the half.

"After the second goal, the game changed," noted Paynter. "St. Francis likes to knock the ball around and play a very methodical game. But they had to chase the ball. St. Francis has a very good player in Tesa McKibben, but [Alex] Evitts was able to shut her down and frustrate her. Our defense was fantastic; Quinn stood on her head. It was a good team win."

St. Francis avoided the shutout when a McKibben corner kick at 88:30 bounced off a Towson defender and past Tiger keeper Erin Quinn.

Quinn made seven saves for Towson. The Red Flash out-shot the Tigers 13-8 and earned eight corners to Towson's five.

Towson finishes its weekend road trip at LIU Brooklyn on Sunday, Sept. 22 at 1 p.m.

College Women's Soccer: Towson 2, St. Francis (Pa.) 1
Towson (4-4-1)    0-2/2
St. Francis (3-5-1)   0-1/1

GOALS: TOW - Read (55:36), Banes (59:53); SFU - TOW Own goal. ASSISTS: None. SAVES: TOW - Quinn (7, 90:00, 1 GA); SFU - Andrews (3, 90:00, 2 GA). SHOTS: TOW - 8; SFU - 13. CORNERS: TOW - 3; SFU - 6. ATT:113.

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