Box Score Demorest, GA - The Piedmont College women's soccer team could not recover from a trio of mistakes today in a 3-0 loss to Hanover College in the 2014 season opener for both squads.  The Lady Lions had their chances to even the score midway through the second half and beyond, but the Panthers salted away a pair of second half goals to shutout Piedmont, a program that was not shutout in any of their 22 games last season.

PC's three goals allowed is also the most given up by the Lady Lions in a regular season contest since a 4-3 overtime win at Methodist University in late October of 2012.  The first score came from a defensive lapse in the 17th minute as Anna Cornacchione of Hanover was able to win possession from the PC back four and turn her breakaway chance into a 1-nil lead for the Panthers.  

Despite having to chase the game from that point on, the stat sheet showed an even contest throughout with each team posting 13 shots with nine of Hanover's chances finding the target compared to seven shots on goal for PC.  Trailing 1-0 at half, the Lady Lions came out strong in the second 45 minutes and had chances to even the score including a breakaway opportunity just at the top of the box by Piedmont's Megan Hatfield.  

However, Hatfield's opportunity was deflected away by the Panthers who saw their back four play extremely well limiting Piedmont's number of clear chances to strike.  A second Hanover goal came in the 59th minute to put the Panthers up 2-0 while a third in the 72nd minute made the game a 3-0 result though Piedmont would have opportunities break 0's on the board.  

A Morgan Edelman header off a corner was cleared off the line with about 20 minutes remaining, and PC saw two more chances cleared at the last moment on similar chances throughout the closing minutes including a header in the closing seconds. 

Savannah Castles led the way with her four shots including three on target for PC.  Piedmont also had the edge in corners with five to Hanover's three with all five of Piedmont's corners coming in the second half. 

The Lady Lions will continue the 2014 opening weekend trip with a 1:30 pm match tomorrow against Emory & Henry College at the Maryville College Invitational in Tennessee. Fans can follow the action with live stats provided by the Maryville College Sports Information Department.