Courtesy of Albertus Athletics Communications:
BOSTON, Mass. - The sixth-seeded Albertus Magnus College women's soccer team kicked off the 2022 Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Tournament with a spectacular 2-1 quarterfinal victory over the third-seeded Saints of Emmanuel (Mass.) College on Saturday afternoon at Roberto Clemente Field.
Erina Ismaili (Middlebury, Conn.) led the Falcons' attack with a dominating performance, as the junior forward netted both goals for the Falcons. Graduate student Jordan Kikosicki (East Haven, Conn.) and senior Keegan Riccio (West Haven, Conn.) each tallied assists for the blue-and-white.
In goal, Amy Stevens (Lincoln, R.I.) put together her best match of the season, as the freshman keeper made a season and career-high 12 saves in net, including nine saves in the second half, to preserve the Falcons' victory.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Following a Saints' foul, Riccio took the free kick and sent a lofted ball toward the goal, but Riccio's strike hit the left upright of the bar and deflected back into the goal mouth, where Ismaili sent home her eighth goal of the year to put the visitors on top, 1-0.
- The Saints responded seven minutes later, as Sarah Dullaghan netted the equalizer in the 11th minute to knot the score at 1-1.
- Albertus answered immediately with what proved to be the game-winner just 26 seconds later to regain the lead at 2-1. Kikosicki played a through-ball to a streaking Ismaili on the right wing. The speedster got behind the Saints and deposited her second goal of the half to give the Falcons the lead for good.
- The Saints would go on to outshoot the Falcons by a 5-3 margin over the remainder of the first half, but stellar goaltending from Stevens and tight defense from the Albertus squad kept the hosts at bay, and the teams transitioned into the halftime break, with the blue-and-white holding the 2-1 lead.
- Out of the break, Victoria Jainchill (Simsbury, Conn.) got the Falcons' party started with a shot at the 54 minute-mark that Saints' keeper Sandra Griffith was just able to snare.
- Ismaili aimed at the net again, this time three minutes later, but the shot went wide, holding the score at 2-1.
- The Saints then reeled off five straight shots but were stymied by Stevens, who made three saves in three attempts to preserve the 2-1 advantage.
- The Falcons were able to manage the clock over the final 10 minutes of action, limiting any chance for an equalizer and holding on for the 2-1 upset road win to advance in the GNAC Tournament.
BETWEEN THE PIPES
Albertus - Amy Stevens (W, 9-5-4): 13 Shots on Goal | 1 Goal Against | 12 Saves
Emmanuel (Mass.) - Sandra Griffith (L, 2-3-3): 4 Shots on Goal | 2 Goals-Against | 2 Saves
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
- The Saints outshot the Falcons by a 20-8 margin.
- Emmanuel tallied five corner kicks to Albertus' four.
- The blue-and-white made 12 saves to the Saints' two.
- Albertus was called for eight fouls, while the Saints were called for seven.
NOTEWORTHY
- Albertus is now 5-10-3 all-time in the postseason.
- AMC is en route to its fourth semi-final appearance in team history.
- Ismaili recorded her first multi-goal performance of the season.
- Jainchill recorded her ninth multi-shot match of the season.
- The Falcons are now 4-1-2 in their last seven games and have outscored the opposition by a 14-7 margin during that stretch.
- Stevens has a goals-against average of 1.00 during her last seven games and has recorded two shutouts during that span.
UP NEXT
Albertus moves on to the semifinal round and will take on the second-seeded Lasers of Lasell University on Tuesday, November 1, in Newton, Mass. Kick-off is set for 2:30 PM.
Courtesy of JWU Athletics Communications:
PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Sophomore Skyla Landry tallied a goal and an assist in No. 1 seed Johnson & Wales (RI) University's 5-2 win over No. 8 University of Saint Joseph (CT) Saturday night in Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Women's Soccer Quarterfinal action at the Scotts Miracle-Gro Athletic Complex.
Graduate student Jordan Restivo picked up he second hat trick in three matches as the Wildcats (17-2-1) advanced to the GNAC Semifinals for the fifth-consecutive season. JWU will host No. 4 seed St. Joseph's (ME) on Wednesday.
Landry opened the scoring with a header that tickled the twine at 11:18. After the Blue Jays (6-9-2) tied the score a few minutes later, Restivo scored her 20th and 21st goals of the season 1:51 apart to put JWU ahead by two at halftime. Her third goal of the night at 65:13 was set up by senior Hayley Viebrock and pushed the lead to 4-1. Freshman Kiersten Whalen capped the scoring with her first collegiate marker at 77:38.
Freshmen Kylie Schmidt and Lauren Moriarity, along with senior Brittney Landry, all finished the evening with one assist. Sophomore Carly McCrumb made one save to earn her 10th win of 2022.
The Wildcats outshot the Blue Jays 29-5.
Courtesy of Lasell Athletics Communications:
NEWTON, Mass. - The Lasell University woman's soccer team defeated the Colby-Sawyer Chargers 4-0 Saturday afternoon at Taylor Field. In addition, to the team advancing to the GNAC semi-finals, the win puts Coach LaFrancesca at 200 career wins.
The Lasers got on the board in the 5th minute when Sarah Lynch (Warwick, RI) passed the ball to Serena Speight (Biddeford, ME). Speight, from outside the box curled the ball into the net to give the Lasers an early 1-0 lead. Speight would add a second goal twenty-seven minutes later. The Lasers went into the half-time break up 2-0.
Four minutes into the second half, Alexys Suojanen (Windsor Locks, CT) set up Camdyn LaMarre (Belgrade, ME) to make it 3-0 Lasers. Five minutes later Bobbi O'Guin (Newton, MA) would assist Sarah Lynch to make it 4-0 Lasell.
Laser goalie Kyli Swan (Queen Creek, AZ) finished the game with one save and Charger's keeper Alexis Lebreton (Bangor, ME) had eight saves.
Up next, the Lasers will host a GNAC Semi-Final game on Tuesday at 2:30 vs Albertus Magnus.
Courtesy of SJC Athletics Communications:
STANDISH, Maine – #4 Saint Joseph's College (10-8-1, 9-3-1 GNAC) defeated #5 Regis College (10-6-2, 9-3-1 GNAC), 3-1, in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Women's Soccer Tournament Quarterfinal at the SJC Athletics Complex on Saturday afternoon.
PLAYOFF IMPLICATIONS:With the win, Saint Joseph's advances to the GNAC semifinal round for the sixth time in program history and will play at top-seeded Johnson & Wales University on Tuesday, start time TBD. The loss signals the end of the 2022 season for Regis.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
Junior Aaliyah Wilson-Falcone (Winthrop, Maine) scored her first of two goals on the afternoon in the seventh minute and freshman Sydney Gallop (Hermon, Maine) made it a 2-0 game with a slick header strike off a Lelia Weir (Bar Harbor, Maine) corner kick at the 26:35 mark.
The Monks' 2-0 cushion was cut in half in the 55th minute when Hailey Lovell (Wakefield, Mass.) potted her eighth goal of the year. Wilson-Falcone put the game out of reach in the 82nd minute with her 12th goal of the year on a Shauna Clark (Oakland, Maine) assist.
TEAM STATS:
Saint Joseph's maintained the lead in shots (17-11), shots on goal (11-6), and corner kicks (10-3) in the victory.
THE KEEPERS:
SJC junior Carly Downey (Yarmouth, Maine) made five saves for the Monks while freshman Daniela Mazo (Bridgeport, Conn.) turned away seven shots for the Pride.