Box Score
COLCHESTER, Vt. - Sophomore Olivia Biron (Saint Albans, Vt./BFA-Saint Albans) buried the game-winning goal 91 seconds into overtime on Saturday, lifting the Saint Michael's College women's soccer team to a 2-1 victory against Le Moyne College during Senior Day on Duffy Field. The Purple Knights improved to 3-10-2 overall and 3-8-2 in the Northeast-10 Conference, earning a 2-1 overtime win on Senior Day for the second straight year. The Dolphins slipped to 2-9-4 and 0-9-4.
Biron was joined by first-year Cassie Chernicki (Hanson, Mass./Hanson-Whitman Regional) in the scoring column, as Chernicki's first collegiate goal knotted the game in the 63rd minute. Sophomore Aubrey Ouellet (Bedford, N.H./Bedford) made seven saves. The hosts held a 12-10 edge in shots, while each team took six corner kicks.
Senior Gabriele Ariola (Mexico, N.Y./Mexico) scored for Le Moyne, while first-year Tori Corsaro (Liverpool, N.Y./Liverpool) posted a pair of stops.
Early in overtime, sophomore Carley Pestana (Bedford, N.H./Bedford) threaded a ball from just beyond midfield between three Dolphin defenders into the visitors' end. Biron sprinted past the backs to chase the ball down, eluded Corsaro as she rushed out to challenge, and carried toward the edge of the box before ripping a shot from the right flank into the upper left-hand portion of the vacated net at 91:31. It was the only shot by either team in extra time.
Le Moyne challenged to take the first lead of the game in the 23rd minute, as senior Stephanie Bonzerato (Brewerton, N.Y./Paul V. Moore) sent a corner kick that Ouellet rushed out to intercept in the middle of the penalty area before any Dolphins could connect for a shot. The visitors broke through at the 29-minute mark, with Ariola sending a shot from 30 yards away that floated above Ouellet, rung the bottom of the crossbar and bounced across the goal line.
Saint Michael's sent a trio of tying shots in the final six minutes of the first half, with first-year Elaine Van de Wille (Phoenix, Ariz./Westview) taking a pair, including slipping a shot from the right flank through the box in the 40th minute.
Junior Katie Butler (Sayville, N.Y./Saint Anthony's) just missed the left post from 15 yards away in the 58th minute, sending Corsaro diving, before the Purple Knights scored only a few minutes later. Senior Kelly O'Brien (Troy, N.Y./Catholic Central) drove a long free kick into the box, which bounced once before Chernicki outjumped Corsaro for the ball, heading home the tying marker at 62:54. O'Brien earned an assist on the play, the first point of the defender's career.
Two Saint Michael's shots were saved in the 70th minute, the final attempts before Biron's winner, while Ouellet made an 84th-minute stop before punching away a corner kick in the 85th minute, and the teams headed to overtime.
Three Purple Knight seniors were honored in a Senior Day ceremony prior to the game: O'Brien, Cassie Crockett (Gilmanton, N.H./Gilford) and Natalie Zimmer (Ingleside, Ontario/Cornwall Collegiate & Vocational School).
Saint Michael's complete its season with a pair of games on the road, first heading to the University of Massachusetts at Lowell on Wednesday for a 7 p.m. contest.