Second Half Rally Lifts Mitchell Past Women’s Soccer, 2-1
NEW LONDON, Conn. – Elms College freshman midfielder
Ashley Venancio (Ludlow, Mass.) scored the Blazers
lone goal in the 16th minute of the first half, but two
second half scores by Mitchell College lifted the Mariners to a 2-1
victory in Tuesday evening's New England Collegiate
Conference (NECC) women's soccer game.
With the loss, Elms falls to 2-8 overall, 1-2 in NECC action while Mitchell improves to 4-5 on the season, 2-0 in league play.
Venancio put Elms on the board early when she took the ball from the left side and skipped a shot into the far right corner of the net at the 15:59 mark giving the Blazers a 1-0 lead.
In a tightly played first period, Elms and Mitchell fired 11 shots each as Mariners' keeper Kaylee Woodford (Niantic, Conn.) turned away six shots and Blazers' junior goalkeeper Kelly Callahan (Monson, Mass.) notched four saves during the first 45 minutes of play.
Trailing by a goal in the second half, Mitchell's Nikki Hoxie (Winsted, Conn.) capitalized with a scoring strike on a loose ball in front of the net, knotting the game at 1-1 at the 62:17 mark. Four minutes later the Mariners scored again when Leslie Briggs (Dighton, Mass.) delivered a pass to Caley McClendon (Keene, N.H.) who beat the keeper with a goal to the lower right corner of the net.
Elms' best chance to equalize came in the final two minutes of the contest when Jennifer Killion (Cambridge, Mass.) got around the left side of the Mitchell defense and had a one-on-one look against Woodford. Killion put the shot on goal but right at the keeper who collected the final of her 10 saves in the contest.
Callahan finished with 10 saves as well including a stop in the 70th minute against McClendon to keep the deficit at one goal.
Elms returns to non-conference action on Thursday, Oct. 5 when it hosts Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (MCLA). Game time is set for 4:00 p.m. at Leary Field.
