Columbia, MD – The Dragons early season struggle for goals was finally broken as scores on either side of the halftime break were enough for Howard to defeat Harcum 2-1 in the home opener.

Howard had multiple chances on goal early on, including a Madalyn Nichols (Mt. Airy, MD/Glenelg) shot in the first minute that was saved by Harcum's Anna Salomonsson. Nichols had another great chance that she shot wide a few minutes later with Rebecca Herriotts (Glenwood, MD/Mt. Airy Christian) having a great chance sail over the cross bar.

It was Harcum who broke through first as a low cross by Samantha Comonitski found Jennifer Conn in front of goal for an easy tap in.  

Harcum found themselves in trouble as Nichols was able to intercept the ball in the middle of the field. Grace Pritchett (Dayton, MD/Linganore) got control and gave it back to Nichols who fought her way through the Bears' defense and scored on a one-on-one with the Harcum goalkeeper.

Pritchett got things started again in the second half in the 77^th minute as she took control at midfield and passed to Kayla Hatmaker (Woodbine, MD/Century) and then on to Kylie Toler (Fulton, MD/Reservoir) who took her momentum straight through the Harcum and scored into the bottom left corner of the net.

Howard would go on to put 19 shots on the day with Nichols, Toler, Hatmaker and Haley Waddel (Catonsville, MD/Catonsville) accounting for 15 of those. Hailey Murray (Catonsville, MD/Catonsville) came up with three saves in the game as she was once again supported by a fantastic defensive effort led by Busi Sokoya (Columbia, MD/Long Reach) and Clara Janush (Laurel, MD/Reservoir) in the center.

Howard will stay at home for their next game as they host regional foes Potomac State on Thursday, September 5 at 4 PM.