The St. Mary’s College of Maryland women’s soccer team secured its first perfect record in United East Conference play Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2025, with a 1-0 road victory over Penn State Abington that also delivered head coach Peter Krech his 100th career win.
Maddison Spradlin scored the game’s lone goal in the 53rd minute, assisted by Gracie Tourangeau and Ella Raines, as the Seahawks improved to 11-4-2 overall and 8-0-0 in conference action. The result capped a regular season that saw St. Mary’s outscore United East opponents 38-2, including shutouts in five of eight matches
The first half ended without goals despite St. Mary’s generating five shots to Abington’s one. Tourangeau’s cross from the right flank found Spradlin near the penalty spot, where the forward slotted a low shot past goalkeeper Madison Kelly. Raines, a sophomore midfielder, touched the ball seconds earlier to set up the play. From there, the Seahawks defense, anchored by goalkeeper Kyleigh Bland, limited the Nittany Lions to three shots total, none on target after the opener.
Bland earned her seventh shutout of the season with three saves, including a diving stop on a free kick in the 68th minute. St. Mary’s held advantages of 11-3 in shots and 6-4 in corners, while committing one fewer foul. Allie Petryszak paced the attack with four shots, two on goal, extending her team’s lead in attempts to 41.
Krech, entering his 12th season after graduating from St. Mary’s in 2009, reached the milestone in his 211th match at the program. His overall record now stands at 100-83-28, building on earlier roles as an assistant at UMBC and his alma mater. The win followed a four-goal Senior Day performance against Cairn University on Oct. 18, extending a streak of eight consecutive victories.
St. Mary’s entered the season after a 7-0-1 United East mark in 2024, one of two prior unbeaten conference campaigns alongside a 6-0-2 finish in 2021. The program, competing at the NCAA Division III level since 1993, has posted 10 winning seasons in the last 15 years under four head coaches. Krech’s arrival in July 2014 stabilized the squad, which reached the conference tournament semifinals three times in his first five years.
Spradlin, a freshman forward from Century High School in Eldersburg, notched her fourth goal of the year on seven shots. A regional champion and state semifinalist in high school, she earned WTTR Athlete of the Week honors last month after scoring twice in a 7-1 rout of Notre Dame (Md.) on Oct. 7.
Tourangeau, a sophomore striker from Sykesville, collected her third assist on two shots, one on frame. She opened the 2025 scoring in the season opener against Gallaudet on Aug. 29 and leads the team with nine points. Raines, also a sophomore, added her second assist on two shots, contributing to a midfield that controlled 62 percent possession in the match.
Petryszak, a junior from Lancaster, Pa., remains the shots leader with contributions in every conference game, including two goals earlier this season. The team’s offensive depth shone in a 10-0 United East opener against Keystone on Sept. 30, where nine different players scored.
In the United East, St. Mary’s shares the top spot with Penn State Harrisburg at 7-0 entering the final slate, though the Seahawks’ head-to-head edge and goal differential secure the regular-season title.
Postseason implications follow: St. Mary’s hosts a United East quarterfinal on Nov. 1 or 2, with seeding finalized after Saturday’s nonconference finale. The Seahawks face Mary Washington at 12 p.m. on Oct. 25 in Fredericksburg, Va., a matchup against a Capital Athletic Conference foe that split with St. Mary’s in 2024.
The victory underscores a defensive resurgence, with Bland’s shutouts tying the program’s single-season record set in 2018. Earlier road tests included a 2-1 decision at Penn State Berks on October 15 and a 2-0 blanking of Lancaster Bible on October 11, both of which preserved the unbeaten streak.
St. Mary’s non-conference ledger includes losses to ranked programs, such as No. 12 Rowan on Sept. 7 and Virginia Wesleyan on Sept. 20, experiences that have honed the squad’s resilience. A 4-0 home win over Penn State Brandywine on Oct. 1 marked the second conference shutout, with local ties evident in contributions from players like junior defender Julia Marvray from nearby Leonardtown.
