Senior captain Amy Wheaton made eight saves tonight to help Stonehill to a 1-1 draw against unbeaten New Haven. |
Skyhawks proving they can compete with NE-10's best
WEST HAVEN, Conn. (September 28, 2013) – The Stonehill College women's soccer team went toe-to-toe with the unbeaten University of New Haven Chargers tonight, emerging with a key draw after two overtime periods in Northeast-10 play at Arcadio Rodriguez Field.
New Haven got on the board just over nine minutes into the match, when sophomore forward Marisa Garcia (Babylon, N.Y./West Babylon) connected on a through ball to junior Amber Simms (Southport, England/Southport), who fired the ball past Stonehill senior goalkeeper Amy Wheaton (Dartmouth, Mass./Dartmouth) into the lower left corner of the net, giving the Chargers an early 1-0 advantage.
Simms, this week's Northeast-10 Co-Player of the Week, has been prolific so far this season, coming into tonight's match with seven goals, including a hat trick in a 5-1 New Haven win over Bentley on September 21st.
Stonehill would respond in the 27th minute, when sophomore forward Meagan Elliott (Norton, Mass./Norton) converted her penalty kick attempt, beating New Haven junior goalkeeper Natasha Purchla (Oakdale, N.Y./Connetquot) to knot the score up at one, where it would remain through the rest of regulation.
Both squads had opportunities to win the match in overtime, but Wheaton and Purchla stood tall, swallowing up any shots that came their way. Both goalkeepers were put to work in the contest, with Wheaton making eight stops and Purchla recording nine to keep the match deadlocked through two overtime sessions.
Stonehill (3-4-2, 3-1-1 NE-10) will play its third consecutive road match this Wednesday at Southern New Hampshire University before finally returning to Skyhawk Field on Saturday, October 5th to take on NE-10 leading and undefeated #8 American International College in the 2013 Purple & White Game. New Haven (5-0-3, 3-0-2 NE-10) will have to deal with American International in its next match, as the Chargers will again put their undefeated record on the line Wednesday night in Springfield, Mass.
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