Gwynedd Valley, Pa. – Gwynedd Mercy University built a 2-0 halftime lead against visiting Keystone College and held off a comeback bid by the Giants to claim a 3-2 victory in a Colonial States Athletic Conference women's soccer showdown on Tuesday night.    
 
The Griffins improve to 4-4-1 overall and 2-1-1 in conference play with the win while the Giants slip to 4-4-1 this fall and 3-1 in the CSAC after having their four game winning streak snapped.
 
Gwynedd Mercy opened the scoring 6:17 into Tuesday night's contest as Erin Reitmeyer knocked home a cross from Meghan Petroski to give the hosts the early advantage.
 
The Griffins doubled their advantage with 13:55 remaining in the opening half as Petroski headed in a corner kick from Grace Macnamara.
 
Gwynedd Mercy held the 2-0 lead at halftime after outshooting Keystone by an 8-1 margin on in the first 45 minutes of action.
 
Tristin Williams (Albany, N.Y./Guilderland) brought the Giants right back into the game just 4:13 into the second half by ripping home a shot on a loose ball in the box following a corner kick for the first goal of her collegiate career.
 
The Griffins restored their two-goal advantage in the 55^th minute when Victoria Braeunle one-touched home a short cross from the endline by Petroski to give Gwynedd Mercy a 3-1 cushion.
 
Keystone battled back to within a goal again with 25:19 remaining as Jenna Moranski (Gardiner, N.Y./New Paltz) scored her third goal of the season after taking a thru-ball from Hannah Richner (Nicholson, Pa./Mountain View) and depositing it into the back of the net to make it a 3-2 game.
 
The Giants pushed for the equalizer over the final 25 minutes of play, but were unable to find it as Gwynedd Mercy held on for the win in the tightly contested conference game.
 
Kailey Hopkins picked up the win in net for the Griffins by making one save while Rebekah Shepherd (South Canaan, Pa./Western Wayne) suffered the loss despite making five saves for the Giants.
 
Gwynedd Mercy held a 15-7 advantage in shots including an 8-3 lead in shots on goal.  The Griffins also held a 9-6 edge in corner kicks on the evening.
 
Keystone will visit Neumann University on Saturday afternoon for another CSAC matchup starting at 1:30 p.m. in Aston, Pennsylvania.