La Plume, Pa. – Nisa Cortes (Schenectady, N.Y./Schenectady) scored two goals for Keystone College on Tuesday afternoon at Penn State Brandywine, but the Giants were unable to overcome an early three-goal deficit in a 3-2 defeat to the Lions in non-conference women's soccer action.
 
Penn State Brandywine (1-0-1) built a 3-0 lead in the opening 16:51 of Tuesday's contest.  The Lions opened the scoring in the 9^th minute of Tuesday afternoon's contest when Christina Kane found the back of the net after taking a feed from Samantha Bearden before doubling their lead in the 12^th minute when Brianna Banks scored off a Rachel Weir assists.
 
The hosts pushed their advantage to three goals in the 17^th minute when Kane set up Bearden for Penn State Brandywine's third goal.
 
Keystone (0-2) got on the board in the 19^th minute when Cortes scored her first goal of the season off a Hannah Richner (Nicholson, Pa./Mountain View) assist to cut the Giants' deficit to 3-1 as the visitors were able to generate some momentum heading into halftime.
 
Cortes pulled Keystone to within a goal by tallying her second goal of the afternoon in the 52^nd minute, an unassisted marker that made the score 3-2 in favor of Penn State Brandywine, but the Giants were unable to push across the equalizer in the final 38 minutes of play.
 
Keystone held a 15-14 edge in shots for the game including a 9-6 lead in shots on goal while the Lions had a slim advantage in corner kicks, 7-6.
 
Penn State Brandywine goalkeeper Emily Bush made seven saves to pick up the win.
 
Sarah Heintz (Glenside, Pa./Abington) made one save in the first half for the Giants while Rebekah Shepherd (South Canaan, Pa./Western Wayne) kept the Lions off the board in the second half with a pair of saves.
 
Cortes led the visitors with six shots on the day while Faith Shiffer (Pine Grove, Pa./Pine Grove) attempted four shots in the loss. 
 
Keystone will return home on Thursday afternoon to host the Pennsylvania College of Technology in a non-conference tilt starting at 4:00 p.m. on the turf field in La Plume.