COLCHESTER, Vt. - Two goals in the final 12 minutes helped the Saint Michael's College women's soccer team snap a tie en route to defeating Southern Connecticut State University, 4-2, on Saturday at Duffy Field. The Northeast-10 Conference contest served both as the Purple Knights' home opener and Senior Day.
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The Purple Knights honored their seniors prior to the game, including
Hannah Conneely (Rocky Hill, Conn./Rocky Hill),
Christina Cummings (Queensbury, N.Y./Queensbury),
Jesse Ferdinand (Maraval, Trinidad and Tobago/High Mowing School),
Elani Gikas (Peabody, Mass./Bishop Fenwick),
Katie Hansen (Spring Lake, N.J./Red Bank Catholic),
Nathalie Larsson (Gothenburg, Sweden/Sjölins Gymnasium/Morningside),
Bernadette Lesieur (Oxford, Mass./Home Schooled),
Emilia McGiffert (Duluth, Minn./Marshall School/Minnesota Duluth),
Emma O'Donnell (Easton, Mass./Oliver Ames),
Sam Page (Merrimack, N.H./Merrimack),
Cassie Tofteroo (Bridgewater, Mass./Bridgewater-Raynham Regional),
Virginia Vogt (Ludwigsburg, Germany/Otto-Hahn-Gymnasium/Salem [W.Va.]),
Claire Williams (Saint Leonard, Md./Calvert) and
Melanie Winters (Plattsburgh, N.Y./Plattsburgh/SUNY Plattsburgh).
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RECORDS
- Saint Michael's (5-1-1, 1-1-1 NE10), Southern Connecticut State (3-3-1, 0-2 NE10)
SAINT MICHAEL'S LEADERS
- Senior Nathalie Larsson (Gothenburg, Sweden/Sjölins Gymnasium/Morningside), 1 goal
- Senior Emilia McGiffert (Duluth, Minn./Marshall School/Minnesota Duluth), 1 goal
- Senior Claire Williams (Saint Leonard, Md./Calvert), 1 goal
- First-year Scarlett Brookes (Rockaway, N.J./Morris Knolls), 1 goal
- Junior Juliana Anastopoulos (Chestnut Hill, Mass./Brookline), 6 saves
OPPONENT LEADERS
- Graduate student Alexie Rosado, 2 goals
- Senior Kaelen Fabry, 4 saves
GAME FACTS
- The Purple Knights played their seventh game in as many states to begin the season.
- Saint Michael's defeated the Owls for the first time since Oct. 19, 2019.
- The hosts held a 15-13 edge in shots, while both teams took seven corner kicks.
- Brookes netted her team-high-tying fourth goal of the season.
- The Purple and Gold is off to its best seven-game start since also beginning the 2000 season 5-1-1 on its way to going 6-1-1.
THE ACTION
- After taking a giveaway from Fabry in the 16th minute, Larsson slipped a shot over the netminder and under the bar from 25 yard to give her team the lead.
- Rosado put home a rebound in the 21st minute, and the teams remained tied at halftime.
- Brookes methodically carried from beyond midfield through the spine of the Owl defense before sending a left-footed shot past a sprawling Fabry in the 53rd minute.
- Rosado worked her way from the left sideline to the top of the box and curved a tying strike into the far upper corner with 65:32 gone.
- During a 79th-minute corner kick sequence, Williams had three close-range bids, with the first denied by an Owl field player, the second stopped by Fabry, and the third guided the inside of the right post for what stood up as the game-winner.
- McGiffert iced the win in the 86th minute, taking a shot from the left corner of the box under pressure from two Owls and finding the far upper corner of the net.
NEXT SAINT MICHAEL'S GAME
- Wednesday vs. University of Maine Fort Kent, 6 p.m.
- The Bengals were sixth in the latest United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA) Division I national poll.