CRESSON, Pa. -- The University of Pittsburgh at Bradford women's soccer team opened up Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference action Saturday at Mount Aloysius.

The Mounties -- who entered the weekend ranked No. 8 in the Great Lakes Region -- erupted for a strong first half and held off a Panthers' late rally to win, 5-3.

"It was unfortunate to walk away with the loss," Head Coach Melissa Lincoln said. "But we kicked it into gear and had a solid second half. It was good to put a few in the back of the net."

Courtney Shade scored a pair of goals for the Panthers.

She has now scored in two straight games and leads the team with three goals.

The Mounties came out strong in the early minutes, grabbing goals in the consecutive sixth, seventh and eighth minutes.

Mount Aloysius scored its fourth goal in the 11th minute. 

But Meghan Stuck put a stop to the run in the 39th minute.

Off a corner kick from Shade, Stuck knocked it in on a header to put the Panthers on the board.

The Mounties eventually took the 4-1 score into halftime.

But Pitt-Bradford won the second half.

Shade cut the deficit to two with her first goal five minutes into the second half.

Off a cross from Jasmine Adams, she sent the ball past the keeper.

Five minutes later, though, the Mounties got the goal back on a through ball that was collected and sent past the keeper.

Shade scored the final goal of the game off a blocked shot rebound strike to the back of the net in the 68th minute.

The two teams went quiet the rest of the way and the Mounties held on for the 5-3 win.

Emily Bethel played all 90 minutes in goal and made 11 saves on 16 shots on goal faced.

Shade led the team with three shots on goal while Grace Dadzaa added a pair. Jasmine Adams, Jade Adams Kahlee Bowen and Meghan Stuck each fired once on net.

The Mounties outshot the Panthers, 24-12. 

Up next. the Panthers will play host to D'Youville Tuesday for a 2 p.m. kickoff.