Saint Michael's College

WALTHAM, Mass. - The third-seeded Saint Michael's College women's soccer team yielded only a 44th-minute goal in a 1-0 loss to second-seeded Bentley University on Thursday during a Northeast 10 Conference Championship semifinal on Bentley Field. The teams played to a 1-0 final in the postseason for the third straight year.
 
The Purple Knights received votes toward the latest United Soccer Coaches national poll while sitting fourth in the NCAA's NPI East Region rankings, which will determine the six-team NCAA East Regional field. Saint Michael's, which has never qualified for the NCAA Tournament, learns its fate on Monday evening during the NCAA Selection Show at 7 p.m. on NCAA.com. The Falcons were ranked 16th nationally and second in the regional NPI.
 
RECORDS

• Saint Michael's (9-3-5), Bentley (14-1-3)

SAINT MICHAEL'S LEADERS

• Sophomore Chloe Laizer (West Springfield, Mass./West Springfield), 2 saves

OPPONENT LEADERS

• Junior Cami Ayandele, 1 goal
• Graduate student Holly DiPalo, 5 saves

GAME FACTS

• The Purple Knights held an 18-6 lead in shots and a 5-2 edge in corner kicks.
• After Bentley eliminated Saint Michael's from the NE10 Championship with a 1-0 quarterfinal win in 2024, the Purple Knights returned the favor with a 1-0 victory in the first round last season.
• The Purple and Gold qualified for its third NE10 Championship semifinal, earning a first-round bye during the 1989 tournament and advancing last season.
• Two of the Purple Knights' three losses this year have come against the Falcons, both by one goal in Waltham, after Bentley took a 2-1 decision on Oct. 17.
• This was the 11th consecutive meeting between the teams decided by a goal or less.
• Bentley ran its unbeaten streak to eight games (6-0-2), still having lost this season only to currently fifth-ranked Franklin Pierce University. The Falcons are 7-0-2 at home this fall.

THE ACTION

• The Purple Knights took 10 of the game's first 11 shots, accumulating a handful of good looks while being shut out in the opening half. On an odd-woman rush, junior Sarah Gormley (East Moriches, N.Y./Westhampton Beach) slipped a shot wide left in the third minute before classmate Julia Palmese (Berlin, Conn./Berlin) headed junior Scarlett Brookes' (Rockaway, N.J./Morris Knolls) corner kick service just over the crossbar in the seventh minute.
• Junior Sam McDonough (Walkersville, Md./Walkersville) headed a shot toward the lower right corner of the net in the 24th minute, but junior forward Sydney DeRoche cleared the bid off the goal line.
• Senior Bridget Hanley (Mansfield, Mass./Mansfield) lofted a shot from 30 yards out in the 33rd minute that forced DiPalo to leap for the save.
• In the 39th minute, Brookes worked a 1-on-2 against the final two Bentley defenders, switched feet, and had a shot blocked just wide right of the post as DiPalo dove.
• On her team's first shot on goal of the game, Ayandele made a move to the inside of the field and drilled a shot from 25 yards out just over Laizer's outstretched arm in the 44th minute for the opening goal.
• Laizer dove left to deny senior Abi Hennessey's 52nd-minute try, and Brookes forced DiPalo into a tip save of her 54th-minute drive from the right flank.
• Under pressure from two Falcons, Brookes one-touched Gormley's pass in the 71st minute pass toward the right side of the box that again necessitated DiPalo a dive to her right.
• In the final minute of regulation, Gormley's right-footed bid from inside the box drifted over the net.