Shepherd climbed out to a 2-0 halftime advantage with a pair of early goals and went on to a 4-1 non-conference win over Pitt-Johnstown, Wednesday afternoon in Shepherdstown, W.Va.   The Mountain Cats suffered their first loss of the season and slipped to 3-1-0.
 
Shepherd started fast and took the lead five minutes into the match on a Mac Long goal assisted by Justin Langon, before Josh Petty beat Pitt-Johnstown freshman goalkeeper Sebastian Roman Rivera with an unassisted goal six minutes later.
 
The Mountain Cats settled in and held the Rams scoreless over the final 34 minutes of the opening half.
 
However, Shepherd quickly increased it to 3-0 when Long set up Langon one minute into the second half.
 
After the Rams made it 4-0 in the 75^th minute, Pitt-Johnstown answered with a Jaeger James unassisted goal with 13 minutes to play to set the final at 4-1.
 
Roman Rivera saw 21 shots from the Rams and made a career-high 10 saves, while Pitt-Johnstown had 10 shots and forced Shepherd goalkeeper Aidan Houck to make six saves.
 
The Rams are now 2-4-0 on the year.
 
The Mountain Cats return home to host a non-conference match against Central Penn on Saturday at noon, before hosting California (PA) in the 2025 PSAC West-opener on Wednesday at 4 p.m.  Both matches will be played at the Pitt-Johnstown Soccer Field.