Women's Soccer falls in road GNAC matchup with Saint Joseph's College

(Standish, Maine) The Rivier University Women's Soccer team wound up on the wrong side of a 6-1 decision this afternoon on the road at Saint Joseph's College in Great Northeast Athletic Conference action at Westerlea Way Field. The Raiders are now 3-9-1 overall and have a 2-6-0 GNAC mark while Saint Joseph's improves to 12-2-0 overall and 7-1-0 in the conference.

Freshman forward Desiree Parent (Westborough, Mass.) recorded her first collegiate brace with a pair of markers while Jessica Capozzi (Saugus, Mass.), Kim Jordan (Bangor, Maine), Sam Peters (Gorham, Maine) and Jodi Pollack (Andover, Mass.) also hit pay dirt for the Monks in the lopsided triumph.

Capozzi provided the Royal Blue with an early lead, as she took a pass from Whitney White (Salem, N.H.) and steered a kick past Raiders senior netminder Cassandra Brown (Somersworth, N.H.) in the eighth minute.

Rivier answered less than two minutes later, as the visitors employed some nifty passing to knot the contest at one-apiece at the 9:57 mark. Sophomore midfielder Holly Slocum (Holden, Mass.) found space inside the 18 and delivered a kick to the right corner past sprawling SJC keeper Jaci Lorenzen (Windham, Maine), netting what turned out to be the Raiders' only offense of the afternoon. Lauren Tamposi (Hollis, N.H.) and Susan O'Loughlin (Stoneham, Mass.) were credited with assists on the game-tying score.

The stalemate was short-lived however, as Peters managed to put the Monks on top to stay with a goal in the 14th minute. After corralling the ball near midfield, Peters found a seam up the middle, shot past a handful defenders to create a 1v1 scenario with Brown and buried the sphere into the netting to make it a 2-1 game with 31:36 remaining in the first half.

The scoring spree continued as Pollack scored off a booming free kick from about 30 yards out at the 25:05 mark and Parent potted the first of two tallies – off a Lauren Titus (Arundel, Maine) pass - with 8:36 before the break to make it a 4-1 match going into intermission.

Jordan netted her third goal of the season 10:49 into the second stanza and Parent produced her second marker of the game in the 73rd minute of play to account for the 6-1 final. Danielle Daigle (Dayton, Maine) and Doe Leckie (Naples, Maine) earned assists on the fifth and sixth goals, respectively.

In goal, three SJC keepers saw time as Lorenzen made five saves in 66:16 of play, freshman Amelia Tooker (Westfield, Mass.) was untested in 3:36 between the pipes, and first-year Marina Cameron (Houlton, Maine) added one stop in 20:08 of mop-up duty. Brown tallied 12 saves in a losing effort for the Raiders.

Saint Joseph's held a 23-15 advantage in shots and a 6-4 edge in corner kicks in the victory.

With the win, Saint Joseph's improves to 5-2-0 in the history of the series with Rivier University. The Monks defeated the Raiders by a 2-0 score in Nashua last fall.

Both teams return to the pitch to face GNAC opponents on the road later this week. Saint Joseph's plays at Simmons College on Saturday at 1:00 PM while Rivier travels to Norwich University on Friday for a 6:00 PM kick-off versus the Cadets.