Colleges: Saint Leo women tie season opener

After three false starts, Saint Leo’s womens soccer team got its season underway with a 1-1 draw against No.23 Armstrong Atlantic on Thursday night.

Senior forward Hannah Beard scored the goals for the Lions, giving them the lead in the 32nd minute, but the Pirates hit back seven minutes from full time as Kristin Burton found an equalizer.

Both sides had chances to win the game in overtime, former Countryside standout and Florida-transfer Jasmine Johnson hitting the post for the Lions in the 99th minute, but the game ended tied.

Former Bloomingdale goalkeeper Christina Coca made eight saves in her debut for the Lions, who had the start of their season disrupted by weather forcing the cancellation of their regular season opener, and had its next two games cancelled after members of the squad were infected with the H1N1 virus.

Beard, who was the Sunshine State Conference’s player of the year a season ago, picked up where she left off with her opening goal of 2009 having scored 17 last season.

The Lions will return to action next Thursday as they host Robert Morris at 7 p.m.