EDWARDSVILLE – The Wilkes University women's soccer team dropped its first Middle Atlantic Conference Freedom (MAC Freedom) contest after a perfect start to the season to nationally-ranked No. 12 Misericordia University by a 3-0 final at Schmidt Stadium on Tuesday evening.

The Colonels are now 4-1-0 in conference and 7-5-1 overall.

Both teams had equal time in the offense zone with no success until Misericordia broke through in the  21^st minute when a header found its way to the left side of the net off a corner kick to give Wilkes a 1-0 deficit.

The Cougars had the higher number of chances as the half went on but the Colonels' defense held strong as the score remained 1-0 entering halftime.

Misericordia added to its lead in the 50^th minute after a midfielder floated a pass over the left side of the Wilkes defense to a sprinting forward who lined a shot into the lower right corner for a 2-0 lead.

The Cougars came inches away from extending their lead to 3-0 in the 52^nd minute when a Misericordia forward found the ball on her foot 20 yards out for a shot aimed at the upper left but keeper Samantha Cecere (Batavia, NY/Batavia) had the answer with a diving save to her left.

Emily Bidelspach (Myerstown, PA/ELCO) came within inches of getting the Colonels on the board when Haley Evans (Deptford, NJ/GCIT) played a corner into traffic that Bidelspach was able to get her head on with eyes for the near post but ultimately floated wide right.

The Cougars tacked on a third goal in the 72^nd minute on a ball played into the box off a short-played corner that was tapped in from point-blank to finish off the scoring.

Cecere made five saves in goal.

Wilkes returns to action on Saturday when it will host Manhattanville for a 3:30 p.m. MAC Freedom game, with a ceremony to honor the teams seniors taking place prior to the start of the game.