Reading, Pa. – Senior captain Lexy McCarty (Germantown, Md./Clarksburg) found the back of the net with less than five minutes left in regulation to give first-year head coach Peter Krech and the St. Mary's College of Maryland women's soccer team their first win of 2014. The Seahawks picked up a 3-2 win over host Alvernia University in the opening round of the Crusader Cup Tournament Saturday night.

McCarty's first goal of her senior campaign came at an opportune time as St. Mary's lost an early 2-0 lead and found themselves in a 2-2 deadlock with 4:26 remaining in regulation following a two-hour lightning delay in the 66th minute. McCarty worked for her shot as she dribbled past a few defenders before sending in the shot for the game-winning goal.

The win propelled St. Mary's (1-2) to the tournament's championship game against Bridgewater (Va.) College (3-0), a 2-0 winner over Penn State Altoona in tonight's other action. Bridgewater entered the weekend ranked seventh in the South Atlantic region. Game time is 6:00 p.m. Sunday evening.

Junior defender Morgan Dorset (Bethesda, Md./Quince Orchard) put the Seahawks on the scoreboard early on as Dorset shot from afar and it was deflected off first-year goalkeeper Jessica Plunkett (Leola, Pa./Conestoga Valley) into the top corner at 13:59. This was Dorset's first career tally.

Just over five minutes later, first-year Christy Ims (Huntingtown, Md./Huntingtown) notched her first collegiate goal with a header towards Plunkett, which was tipped into the upper part of the net for a 2-0 Seahawk lead at 19:04.

St. Mary's lead stood for the next 60 minutes but the lightning delay provided Alvernia with the necessary time to regroup.

Junior defender Devon Reeves (Haddonfield, N.J./Paul VI) finally broke through for the Crusaders (1-3) at 79:00. Reeves collected a pass from sophomore midfielder Bailey Stover (Phoenixville, Pa./Phoenixville) and fired a shot that was deflected by sophomore keeper Sara Eaton (Portland, Ore./Oregon Episcopal) but bounced behind Eaton and trickled into the net.

Sophomore midfielder Hannah Mallets (O'Fallon, Ill./Mechanicsburg) connected on the equalizer for the Crusaders as Mallets put a low-driven free kick at 82:36.

Shots finished even at 13 apiece while Alvernia owned a 5-3 edge in corner kicks.

Larkin made three stops in the first half while Eaton had three saves in the second stanza and picked up the win. Plunkett finished with seven saves for the Crusaders.

Facebook: StMarysAthletics

Twitter: @smcseahawks, #SMCMwsoc, #SeahawkAthletics

Instagram: @smcseahawks