Caron's hat trick leads Women's Soccer past Anna Maria, 5-1

(Paxton, Mass.) The Rivier University Women's Soccer team offense carried the way as they earned their first Great Northeast Athletic Conference victory of the season with a 5-1 victory over Anna Maria College at AMCAT Field in Paxton. The win ups the Rivier overall record to 2-4-2 with a 1-3 GNAC record while Anna Maria falls to 2-7-0 (1-3 GNAC).

Senior Megan Caron (Tyngsboro, Mass.) recorded her first career hat trick and classmate Maggie Cohoon (Derry, N.H.) netted a pair to account for all of the Raider offense. In total, Rivier took 39 shots on the night with 27 of them landing on net.

Caron gave the Raiders the lead at 19:21 when she was able to capitalize on a corner kick from junior Colby Creteau (Nashua, N.H.) as she one-touched the kick into the bottom right corner of the net. Minutes later Caron added to the lead this time collecting a feed from senior Jane Farrell (Wilmington, Mass.) for an open look in front of the net.

Cohoon would give Rivier plenty of insurance as she scored twice in the second half. Her first came at 50:43 when senior Jackie Russo (Saugus, Mass.) placed a thru ball to set up the score and her second was at 72:31 as Caron sent a 30-yard ball to the foot of Cohoon. Caron would then finish the hat trick with an unassisted tally at 81:18.

Anna Maria thwarted the shutout with seconds remaining as Courtney Ryan headed a pass from Ashley Bottis at 89:44.

Junior goalkeeper Lauren Goodspeed (Merrimack, N.H.) recorded five saves on six shots for her second win of the season. Anna Maria's Kate Kneeland made an incredible 22 saves in net.

Rivier will return home for their next scheduled contest, a GNAC matchup with Mount Ida College on Saturday afternoon. Game time is set for 1pm at Raider Field. The AMCATS will travel to Norwich University for their next contest on Friday night.