Skyhawks defeat Warriors for first time since 1999
Sophomore Christine Moodie scored two goals for the Skyhawks pushing her team lead to five on the season. |
EASTON, Mass. (October 9, 2012) – The Stonehill College women's soccer team earned a 2-1 victory over Merrimack College on Tuesday evening in Northeast-10 Conference (NE-10) action on Skyhawk Field.
Sophomore midfielder Christine Moodie (Littleton, Mass./Littleton) scored both goals while junior midfielder Casey Mathews (Mattapoisett, Mass./Old Rochester Regional) and senior back and captain Allison Nagle (Mansfield, Mass./Mansfield) both added assists to lift the Skyhawks over the Warriors for the first time since 1999. Stonehill went 17-4 overall during the 1999 season compiling its best record in program history.
Junior captain and goalkeeper Amy Wheaton (Dartmouth, Mass./Dartmouth) made six saves to improve her record to 5-3-3 overall.
Moodie gave the Skyhawks a 1-0 lead at the 31:28 mark as she beat Merrimack junior goalkeeper Nicole Curtis (Billerica, Mass./Billerica Memorial) with a chip shot inside the box for her fourth goal of the season. Mathews initiated the tally by beating a defender for space just outside the box, near the right flank, and delivered a pass directly to Moodie's foot for the score.
After earning a free kick on a Warriors foul, Nagle helped Stonehill claim a 2-0 advantage in the 50th minute of the contest with a beautiful cross to Moodie inside the box from about 35-yards out that was headed home inside the left post, her fifth marker of the season.
Merrimack cut its deficit in half at the 53:12 mark on a superb pass from senior midfielder Jenn Pino (North Andover, Mass./North Andover) from the right flank. Pino beat a defender near the right post and dished a low pass across the goal line to a wide open Jamie Alnwick (Groton, Mass./Groton-Dunstable) who one-timed her shot into the back of the net.
Alnwick almost put home the equalizer for the Warriors at 89:33 blasting a shot from just outside the 18-yard line through a wall of players but Wheaton found the ball through traffic and suffocated it for her final save of the game.
Merrimack outshot Stonehill 16-11 and held a 5-2 advantage in corner kicks.
Stonehill (5-3-3, 4-3-3 NE-10) hosts the University of Bridgeport for a non-conference matchup on Thursday at 3:30 p.m. on Skyhawk Field. Merrimack (8-5-0, 6-4-0 NE-10) travels to The College of Saint Rose, the NCAA Division national champion, on Saturday at 2 p.m.