Photo courtesy of Janard Jones/Lasell Athletics
The women’s soccer team earned a victory Saturday afternoon, topping the Saint Joseph’s College of Maine Monks 4-3. The match drew an electric crowd to Taylor field, as both teams put on a terrific showing.
Right off the bat, the Lasers and the Monks came out roaring with energy, but a missed clearance from the Monks quickly silenced their spirit. Hitting a right-footed cross from the top of the eight-teen-foot goalie box was senior midfielder Bobbi O’Guin. Scoring on her assist in the sixth minute of play was freshman midfielder/forward Camdyn LaMarre.
Although the Lasers drew first blood, it was the Monks who repeatedly slashed through the Lasers’ midfield. In the eighth minute, a free kick by Monks’ freshman midfielder Lelia Weir nearly tied the game as it pinged off the crossbar.
On the other end of the field, it was the Monks escaping a dangerous attack from the Lasers in the twenty-first minute. After receiving an amazing back door pass from LaMarre, O’Guin had a golden opportunity to double her team’s score. Though she could have shot the ball on her first touch, O’Guin decided to take an additional dribble which gave Monk’s junior goalkeeper Carly Downey time to go after the ball and hinder the shot.
Defensively, senior Caroline St. Croix and the Lasers' back line held their own in the first half. That was until a long ball in the thirty-fifth minute was sent through the middle of the field and a Laser defender whiffed on it. Senior goalkeeper Kyli Swann came out of the goal to try and cut off the angle, but the Monks’ junior forward Aaliyah Wilson-Falco powered it over her reach to knot the match at one apiece.
Fortunately for the Lasers, a foul committed two minutes later in the Monks’ goalie box sent graduate forward Serena Speight to the ground, giving the home squad a penalty kick. Getting the call was O’Guin, who calmly stepped up and buried the shot in the bottom right corner of the net. Diving to the opposite side of the net was Downey, who could only blame her defenseman for putting the team back in a one-goal deficit.
Photo courtesy of Janard Jones/Lasell Athletics
As halftime edged its way closer, it appeared that the Lasers would maintain their lead entering the second half. But a free kick from the Monk’s junior defender Randi Lee Robinson bounced to the feet of her teammate Keelin Sweeney. Sweeney, the senior defender, kicked the ball toward the bottom left corner of the goal, and due to Swann’s blocked vision of the ball, the Monks evened up the score 2-2 in the forty-fifth minute.
Coming out of halftime, the Lasers displayed incredible ball movement, including three consecutive one-touch passes in their opponent's goalie box, which set up a one-on-one between Downey and sophomore midfielder Michelina D'Agostino. Prevailing was D’Agostino, and earning the assist was sophomore forward Priscilla Martinelli.
After their third goal, the Lasers found themselves once again in an opportunistic situation entering the fifty-fifth minute. Following another free kick, a jambalaya of blue and pink jerseys swarmed within ten feet of the goal. Finding the back of the net for her second goal of the match was LaMarre. The 4-2 advantage proved to be costly for the Monks, who struggled to get anything past Swann.
Despite a goal by the Monks’ freshman midfielder Kate Russell in the eighty-fourth minute of the game, cutting the Lasers’ lead in half, the incredible playmaking of Swann helped earn her team the win. Whether it was a diving one-handed save in the fifty-fourth minute, a kick save in the seventy-ninth minute, or a two-handed block into the crossbar in the eighty-fifth minute, Swann proved to be the Lasers’ most clutch player down the stretch.
With the Lasers maintaining possession of the ball in the last two minutes of the game, the Monks had no more answers.
It was a strong win for the Lasers who now move to 7-4-1 on the year.
On Wednesday, October 12th, the Lasers will travel to Providence, RI, facing Johnson and Wales under the lights. Kickoff is at 7 p.m.
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