ALTOONA, PA- The Highlanders continued their westward trip, stopping at Penn State Altoona for a non-conference matchup with the Nittany Lions before returning home.
 
­PSU-Altoona blitzed the Highlanders from the start, forcing Mackenzie Paugh into four saves in the first 20 minutes of play. Despite their best efforts, the Highlanders defense was unable to keep the Nittany Lions off the board as PSU-Altoona's Meghan Flaugh headed a corner kick into the back of the net to open the scoring in the 31^st minute. Jolted awake by the 0-1 deficit, the Highlanders mounted their own attack to close out the half- firing a flurry of shots at the PSU-Altoona net, but unfortunately remaining goalless heading into the break.
 
The Highlanders continued their offensive push in the second half, breaking through the defensive deadlock in the 62^nd minute when Katie Ruitto played a beautiful corner into the box. Ruitto's cross took a fortunate bounce off a PSU-Altoona defender and settled into the back of the net to knot things at 1-apiece. The next half hour passed without, much fanfare, with each team probing for offensive chances but continually coming up empty due to the excellent performance of both backline's. Entering OT, the Highlanders summoned every bit of energy left for another twenty minutes of play. The first overtime period passed in a flash as both teams played conservative soccer, seeking to counterattack and coming up empty. The Nittany Lions threw caution to the wind in the second overtime, pushing their offense up in search of a game-winner. Once again though, the Highlanders defense and keeper Mackenzie Paugh proved up to the task, parrying away or blocking each of the six PSU-Altoona shots. When the final whistle blew, the Highlanders had officially survived the onslaught, taking a tie home after two incredibly hard-fought days of soccer to open the season.
 
The Highlanders will host Neumann University this Thursday at 4:00 PM for their first home contest of the 2018 season.