Trenton, NJ - The Howard CC women's soccer team completed their opening weekend in New Jersey with a 2-1 loss at Mercer County followed by a 0-0 tie at Rowan Burlington.

In the season opener, the Dragons and Mercer County Vikings created numerous chances in the first half with no goals to show for it. The breakthrough came early in the second half as Kylie Toler (Fulton, MD/Reservoir) found Emily Delaney (Catonsville, MD/Catonsville) who ripped a shot through the Vikings goalkeeper to take a 1-0 lead. That lead held up for 30 minutes until Mercer County was able to score two late goals to steal the game away from Howard.

The Dragons split their goalkeeping duties between a pair of freshman as Hailey Murray (Catonsville, MD/Catonsville) came up with four saves in a shutout first half while Mya McConnell (Columbia, MD/Howard) handled the job between the pipes in the second half. Rebecca Herriotts (Glenwood, MD/Mt. Airy Christian) got off to a good start for her collegiate career with three shots and the Howard defense did a good job containing Mercer County to just eight shots on the day.

Game two of the weekend trip was a different story as the Dragons dominated in possession and scoring chances for the entire 110 minutes of play, but were unable to find the back of the net and were forced to settle for a scoreless draw. 

Howard pelted the Rowan Burlington Barons with 17 shots including seven from Toler, five from Madalyn Nichols (Mt. Airy, MD/Glenelg) and four from Grace Pritchett (Dayton, MD/Linganore). Despite having the game in their hands, the Dragons just could not find a goal as they were denied by the Barons goalkeeper Rachel Irish who racked up 15 saves in the game. 

Murray played the entire game in goal, coming up with the first shutout of her young career needing just three saves to do it in front of a powerful defensive line led by Busi Sokoya (Columbia, MD/Long Reach).

The Dragons will look to get their first win of the season as they start their conference schedule at CCBC Catonsville on Wednesday, August 28 at 5 PM.