Emmitsburg, Md. (September 19, 2014) – Powered by junior Emma Blair's first career two-goal game, the Mount St. Mary's women's soccer team picked up its first victory of the 2014 season, defeating visiting Howard by a 3-1 final score at Waldron Family Stadium on Friday night. Blair found the back of the net in the 16th and 81st minutes for the victory.

Freshman forward Jordan Fine also tallied her first collegiate goal for the Mount (1-9-1), which fired a season-best 12 shots on the night. For the Bison (0-7-1), Sandra Bond's strike with 9:55 remaining allowed the visitors to climb back into the contest before Blair iced the game on a penalty kick 36 seconds later.

Blair opened the scoring in the first half when she stole the ball from a Howard defender and ripped a shot to the bottom right-hand corner from 18 yards out in the 16th minute.

Back-and-forth action transpired through the remainder of the half with Howard holding a slight 7-5 edge in shots heading into the locker room. Mount goalkeeper Rachel Bourne was able to make two first-half saves to keep the advantage at 1-0.

Shortly after halftime, Blair was again part of the action when she sent a corner kick into the box that deflected off a scrum near the penalty area and dropped to Fine's feet. The freshman forward did the rest by ripping a shot past Howard goalkeeper Kyra Dickson from 12 yards away for a 2-0 Mount lead in the 49th minute.

The Bison chopped the Mount's advantage in half when Bond floated a shot from 30 yards out that sailed into the side netting with 9:55 to play in the game.

Just 36 seconds later, however, the Mount was awarded a penalty kick after a Howard foul. Blair stepped up to the spot and calmly buried her shot to put the game out of reach at 3-1.

In a desperate attempt late in the contest, Howard's Nikanya Clark and Treschelle Gibson-Serrette took shots from around the 18-yard box that Mount goalkeeper Vicky Cocozzasaved. Cocozza finished with eight saves in 45 minutes of action, while Dickson stopped two shots on the other end for the Bison.

The Mount concludes the non-conference schedule with a road contest at Navy on Monday, Sept. 22, at 7 p.m.

NOTES: The Mount improves its all-time record versus Howard to 7-3-2... Emma Blair now has five career goals… Blair is the first Mount player with two goals in a game since Jackie Corley scored a pair on the road at Fairleigh Dickinson on Oct. 4, 2013… The three goals for the Mount are the most since a 3-0 win over Wagner on Oct. 11, 2013. 

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