The Pitt-Bradford women's soccer team will host La Roche in the first round of the AMCC tournament at 2 p.m. Saturday.
The Panthers enter the postseason as the league's No. 3 seed after posting a 5-1-3 record versus AMCC opponents. La Roche earned the No. 6 seed with a 4-4-1 conference mark.
"I am excited for our team get an opportunity to compete for a conference championship," head coach Marquis Walker said. "I like the fact that we get to play one final home game this season… it is always more comfortable playing at home in a friendly environment."
Pitt-Bradford will look for a better result than their last time out, a 1-1 draw against D'Youville on Wednesday. The Panthers struggled to finish opportunities in front of the net and squandered a 1-0 lead.
The Panthers were 5-1 in their previous six matches prior to Wednesday, outscoring opponents 11-2 in the five wins.
On the other side, the Redhawks have lost four straight, being outscored 20-3 during that span, including a 3-1 setback to Pitt-Bradford on Oct. 15.
In that contest, the Panthers built a 3-0 lead behind Abbey Kalin's early goal and two scores from Grace Dadzaa. Despite outshooting the Panthers, La Roche's tally came in the second half with the game well in hand. It was a physical match that featured 24 fouls and seven yellow cards.
Dadzaa leads the Panther attack with six goals, and Courtney Shade has chipped in five scores. Kaitlyn Donnelly sets the stage in the midfield and ranks among the conference leaders with six assists.
Defensively, Pitt-Bradford is fourth among all AMCC teams, allowing 1.49 goals per game. Goalkeeper Sarah Dailey posted three shutouts in conference play, and is third among all AMCC netminders with 108 saves.
The Redhawks' Vanessa Ceravolo is one of the league's top scoring threats with 15 goals this season. She accounted for nine of the Redhawks' 15 shots against Pitt-Bradford during the first meeting and the team's only score.
No other player for La Roche has more than four goals, and Allesandra Perri leads the team with seven assists.
La Roche is surrendering more than two goals per match, ranking among the conference's worst. Jessica Welka has emerged as the team's top keeper, posting six wins and one shutout.
"LaRoche is an opponent that will compete for the entire game," Walker said. "I see the match being a close battle since we just faced one another two weeks ago."
It's the first postseason meeting between the two schools since the 2012 AMCC semifinals. Pitt-Bradford prevailed, winning 3-1 on penalty kicks, and advanced to the AMCC championship match for the first time in school history. The Panthers have returned to the title game every year since and hope to make it five-in-a-row in 2016.
The winner of Saturday's contest will advance to meet No. 2 Pitt-Greensburg in Wednesday's semifinal round.
