Box Score EASTON, Mass. - The regionally-ranked Saint Michael's College women's soccer team continued its best Northeast-10 Conference start in 21 years with a 1-1 tie against regional heavyweight Stonehill College on Tuesday at Skyhawk Field. The Purple Knights were seventh in this week's United Soccer Coaches East Region poll, while Stonehill had qualified for three of the past four NCAA Tournaments.
RECORDS
- Saint Michael's (4-2-1, 2-1-1 NE10), Stonehill (3-2-1, 2-1-1 NE10)
SAINT MICHAEL'S LEADERS
OPPONENT LEADERS
- Junior Hannah Guidi, 1 goal
- Junior Hanna Copley, 1 save
GAME FACTS
- Valentine, who missed the 2019 season due to injury, scored her first college goal.
- The Purple Knights are seventh in the latest United Soccer Coaches East Region poll. They are off to their best NE10 start since also going 2-1-1 in their first four games in 2000.
- Stonehill qualified for three of the past four NCAA Tournaments.
- The hosts held advantages in shots (19-11) and corner kicks (5-3).
- Each of the Purple Knights' last nine games since 2019 has been decided by a goal or less.
- Saint Michael's saw its four-game streak of 1-0 finals come to an end.
- The Purple Knights capped a challenging four-game run that featured one nationally-ranked squad, two regionally-ranked foes and Stonehill, a perennial regional contender. Saint Michael's was 2-1-1 in the stretch, allowing only two goals.
THE ACTION
- All of the game's scoring occurred in the opening 7:05. In the sixth minute, Guidi sent a cross from the right sideline into the box, where a Purple Knight defender headed the ball into the left corner of the net at 5:39. Saint Michael's responded quickly, as Valentine picked up a loose ball in the midfield, cut to her right, and launched from 30 yards out, chipping a shot just under the crossbar and over a leaping Copley with 7:05 gone.
- The Purple Knights nearly took the lead in the final minutes of the first half, as sophomore Anna Pedreschi's (Shirley, Mass./Lawrence Academy) shot from the top of the box rung the top left corner of the frame in the 41st minute.
- Valentine had a chance to put home her second goal in the 87th minute, heading junior Cassidy Koons' (Standish, Maine/Bonny Eagle) corner kick entry just over the bar.
- Junior Peyton Nickerson countered with a similar try in the 88th minute, heading a corner cross wide left.
- During the first overtime period, Escobedo jumped to gather the ball under pressure during the 92nd minute after it took a high bounce on the grass near the goal line.
- In the 103rd minute, first-year Christina Cummings (Queensbury, N.Y./Queensbury) served a long cross from the right corner that Valentine saved near the far post, centering for junior Zoe Rogers (Shelton, Conn./Shelton), whose point-blank bid was pushed high.
- Senior Camryn Thompson had the last chance for either team, making an individual effort to take the right side of the box and find space before firing a shot high and wide in the 108th minute.
NEXT SAINT MICHAEL'S GAME
- Sunday at the University of New Haven, 1 p.m.
