BETHLEHEM, Pa. - The Northampton men's soccer team dropped their first match of the season, falling to Penn State - Lehigh Valley, 3-2, in a non-conference matchup on Thursday afternoon at Spartan Field.

The Nittany Lions jumped out early, finding the back of the net just 1 minute into the contest to take a 1-0 lead.

Gershon Bangura (Greencastle, PA/Greencastle-Antrim) tied the contest at 1-1 with his first collegiate goal at the 30 minute mark, off an assist from Nic McCoy (Bangor, PA/Bangor).

The teams remained tied heading into the halftime break, but the Spartans quickly took the lead just 4 minutes into the second stanza when McCoy netted his 3rd goal of the season off a free kick to give Northampton a 2-1 advantage.

PSU-LV tied the contest 20 minutes later after some miscommunication on the defensive end for the Spartans. 

The match stayed tied at 2-2 with some good back-and-forth soccer, but PSU-LV was able to notch the game winner with only 3 minutes remaining in the contest. 

"We struggled to pass the ball effectively today," remarked Head Coach Mario Barrantes, "we had spurts where I thought we played well, but our passing was simply not sharp enough today and it cost us."

The loss drops Northampton to 1-1-0 overall, while Penn State - Lehigh Valley improves to 4-0-0. 

The Spartans return to NJCAA Region 19 action on Saturday when they travel to Harrisburg to face the HACC Hawks at noon.