Mt. Pleasant earns share of title

BURLINGTON — It was another neck-and-neck contest for the unbeaten Mt. Pleasant girls soccer team on Monday, but the Panthers once again came out on top.

Mt. Pleasant shut out Burlington 1-0 to hand the Grayhounds their second SEC loss of the season and give the Panthers a share, for now, of the Southeast Conference title.

The lone Panther goal came unassisted, as sophomore Andrea Lopreato netted her conference-leading 17th goal of the season. She scored in the second half to give the Panthers a 1-0 lead.

Emma Pieper faced eight shots in net and stopped them all. The Panther defense stifled a Grayhound offense that had scored three or more goals in each of its last three SEC games, all wins.

The Panthers had previously beaten Burlington 4-2 at home. Mt. Pleasant has outscored opponents 32-7 on the year.

Mt. Pleasant is now 7-0 overall and 6-0 in the conference. Burlington is 5-2 in the SEC with two games left, meaning Mt. Pleasant can finish all alone in first with a win against Fort Madison on Thursday.