Women's Soccer Advances To NEWMAC Final
NORTON, Mass., Nov. 8, 2003- Springfield College , seeded third in this weekend's New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) WOmen's Soccer Tournament, will make a return to the league championship game for the first time since 2001 as the Pride upended the second-seeded Smith College, 6-1, in Saturday's first semifinal round game held at Wheaton College's Mirrione Stadium.
Avenging its regular season loss to Smith, SC improves to 10-8-2 on the year and will face Wheaton, which defeated Wellesley 4-0, in tomorrow afternoon's championship game at 1:00 p.m. Smith slips to 12-5-2 overall and will await a possible berth into next week's Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Tournament.
Neither team wasted any time cracking into the scoring column, as Smith struck first at the 2:19 minute mark. Following a
Monroe Peterson shot that bounced off of Springfield goalie
Christina Davis (Orange, Conn.), sophomore
Johanna Perez knocked home the rebound for the 1-0 edge. Just 41 seconds later, Springfield's
Colleen McGovern (Smithfield, R.I.) knotted things up with a perfectly-placed 20-yard shot from the left side of the field into the far bottom right corner of the net.
In the 39th minute, the Pride took the lead for good, as junior
Leann Morris (Sutton, Mass.) dumped her pass into classmate
Jacqueline Landers (Niantic, Conn.), who then in turn sent her shot under the reach of Smith goalie
Monica Jarman for a 2-1 edge. Springfield took full advantage of its offensive opportunities, scoring twice in the opening half on five shots and four times in the second stanza on 11 shots. The Pioneers tallied 12 first-half shots and 19 for the game, but only showed the single goal.
In the second half, Springfield posted three of its four goals off of player deflections, including Landers' second tally of the day at 63:44. Freshman
Annmarie Goodwin (Springfield, Mass.) made the score 4-1 in the 76th minute and just over three minutes later sophomore
Amanda Nealon (E. Falmouth, Mass.) converted a pass from first-year
Cara Reilly (Lenoxdale, Mass.). In the 85th minute, junior
Molly Desroches (Belchertown, Mass.) added extra insurance with a rifling shot into the upper right netting.
Scoring Summary:
Springfield 6, Smith 1
1st Half: SMITH- Johanna Perez (Monroe Peterson) 2:19; SC- Colleen McGovern (Laura Harwood) 3:00, Jacqueline Landers (Leeann Morris) 38:51
2nd Half: SC- Landers (unassisted) 63:44, Annmarie Goodwin (unassisted) 75:30, Amanda Nealon (Cara Reilly) 78:43, Molly Desroches (unassisted) 84:44
Shots on Goal: SMITH- 19; SC- 16
Team Links
Head Coach John Gibson
John Gibson, a native of London, England, enters his 13th season as head women's soccer at Springfield College in the fall of 2012. Gibson has led the Pride to the NCAA Tournament in five of the last seven years and has established the Pride as one of the top programs in the country. His clubs have registered an impressive a 152-70-19 record.
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Contact Head John Gibson
E-Mail | Phone: 413.748.3170
