Springfield, Mass. — September 5, 2008 — The Springfield College womenÂ's soccer team started the 2008 season with a 3-1 win over local-foe Westfield State in the first match of the Springfield College Invitational on Friday evening.
With the win, the Pride improve to 1-0 on the season and continue to prove to be a very tough team at Brock Affleck Field at the Irv Schmid Sports Complex. Last season, in which the Pride advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament, Springfield went 12-0-1 on its home pitch.
Senior back Delaney Cantrall (Santa Paula, Calif.) netted the first goal of the PrideÂ's season when she blasted a shot from 15 yards over the outstretched arms of the Westfield State keeper just over 18 minutes into the game.
The Pride grabbed a 2-0 advantage with 10 minutes remaining in the half as Jen Courossi (Methuen, Mass.) took a feed from Brittany Collins (South Windsor, Conn.) inside the box and ripped a shot into the top right corner of the net.
13 minutes into the second half, senior Kayla Thibeault (Lebanon, Conn.) sidestepped a defender and finished a wide open shot just outside of the 18-yard box as the ball caromed off the left post for the PrideÂ's third goal.
Westfield tacked on a goal with under two minutes remaining after confusion in the Pride backline led to a one on one opportunity with Jessie Tomich and Pride keeper Sue Jenney (Agawam, Mass.). Tomich slid her shot past Jenney to cut SpringfieldÂ's lead to two.
Jenney finished with six saves en route to the win, while Jess Pieciak and Brittany Beeman combined to make four saves for the Owls.
Eastern Connecticut 2, Utica 0
In the second game of the Springfield College Invitational, Eastern Connecticut defeated Utica by a score of 2-0.
With the win, Eastern Connecticut will take on the host Springfield College Pride at 7:30 pm on Saturday evening. Utica will square off against Westfield State at 5:00 pm.
The Warriors wasted no time as Nicole Gaudette fired a shot from outside the 18-yard box into the back of the net just 1:01 into the contest. The Warriors would go on to control much of the first half, holding a 9-2 advantage in shots.
ECSU tacked on its second goal at the 55:02 mark as Meghan Ryczek finished off a feed from Alicia DeMaio to give the Pioneers a 2-0 lead.
Kim Church needed to make just three saves to record the shutout for the Warriors.
