WASHINGTON - The 2023 Gallaudet University women's soccer season came to a close Tuesday night under the lights at Hotchkiss Field as the Bison lost a close game to Penn St.-Mont Alto, 4-1. 

Gallaudet (4-11) hung around with Penn St.-Mont Alto (10-3-1) for the majority of the game as the visiting Nittany Lions scored a quick goal, four minutes in, but did not find the back of the net for another 60 minutes.

The visitors held a 1-0 lead at the half. 

GU had a chance to get on the scoreboard in the second half when junior midfielder/forward Ashley Harlicker (Shenandoah, Texas) went on a fast break but sailed a shot wide left of the Nittany Lion goal with 30 minutes left.

Penn St.-Mont Alto's Rachel Merrill scored the fifth goal of the season on a fast break attempt down the near sideline and was left 1-on-1 with Bison goalie Lilian Nelson (Minneapolis, Minn.) and shot the ball into the lower right corner of the goal at the 65:34 mark. 

Harlicker got the Bison on the scoreboard minutes later as she scored on a free kick that was perfectly placed into the upper left 90 of the goal. The goal was the 12th of the season for Harlicker and broke a tie with senior Courtney Gentzke (Honeoye, N.Y.) for the team lead in goals.

Penn St.-Mont Alto added a third goal in the 75th minute and the fourth and final goal in the 81st minute to close out the scoring.

Nelson finished the game with nine saves.

THANK YOU SENIORS
This was the last game for Gallaudet's senior class; Gentzke, Harlicker, Nelson, Marlena Rauber (Rochester, N.Y.), Ryane Smalley (Nicholson, Pa.) and Dekisha Smith (Hutchins, Texas).

Gentzke played four seasons for the Bison and scored 15 goals, five assists for 35 points in 53 games played (45 starts). The senior forward scored a career best 11 goals, three assists and 25 points this season.

Harlicker lettered three years for the Bison and netted 14 goals, one assist and 29 points in 21 games played (20 starts). The junior midfield/forward had a career season with 12 goals scored and 24 points tallied.

Nelson played three years in net and several times in the field for the Bison. The junior goalie logged 1,966 minutes and made 274 saves (0.624 save percentage) in 29 games played.

Rauber played two seasons on defense for GU and started and played in 16 games.

Smalley, like Gentzke, played four years on the women's soccer team. Smalley played in 42 games (41 starts) on defenae.

Smith played three years on the Bison defense and played in 28 games (19 starts) and finished with one goal, two assists, four points (all tallied this year).

UP NEXT
This was the final game of the 2023 season for the Gallaudet University women's soccer program.