Women’s Soccer Falls In NECC Championship On PK’s
| Final | 1 | 2 | OT | OT2 | T | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Elms (11-7-3, 5-1-1) | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
|
Lesley (14-3-2, 6-1) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
Medford, MA – The Elms College women's soccer team fell in the New England Collegiate Conference championship game on Saturday afternoon to Lesley University. It would take and exciting 90 minutes, plus extra time, and penalty kicks to find a winner.
The Linx came out and dominated play right from the start, putting the Blazers on their heels. Elms would only have one real scoring opportunity in the opening half when Shannon Denault (Chicopee, MA) found the ball at her feet 30 yards from and empty Lesley goal. Denault would get of a shot, but it would sail just over the crossbar. The rest of the half would belong to the Linx, Lelsey would outshoot the Blazers seven to one and take six corners. The Elms backline and keeper were able to keep Lesley off the board until the 41st minute. The Linx would finally capitalize on one of their corners and take a 1-0 lead into the half.
The second half started out with Lesley continuing to dominate possession, the Linx would find a second goal at the 53:09 mark and extend the lead to 2-0. The Blazers would start to battle back and create some chances of their own. Elms would cut the deficit in half when Elaina Vilar (Watertown, CT) sent a corner into the box that was tapped home by Zaya Clark (Springfield, MA). The Blazers would keep the pressure on the Linx, and just three minutes later found the equalizer off the head of Jordan Bailey (Monson, MA). The rest of the half would see back and forth action with neither team able to find the go-ahead-goal, spending the championship match into overtime.
Lesley would get multiple chances on the Blazer goal in the extra session, but Becca Molin (West Hartford, CT) would stand tall and keep Lesley from finding the game winner. Molin would be big all day, making twelve saves in the game. Elms would muster a few chances of their own but were unable to find the golden goal. With both teams unable to find the back of the net, the game would be decided by penalty kicks.
The Blazers would miss two PK's and go 3 for 5, the Linx would 4 for 4 and take the championship.
