Wesleyan University (Conn.) Tops Women’s Soccer, 4-1

MIDDLETOWN, Conn. – Elms College senior defender Ally Witaszek (Feeding Hills, Mass.) netted a goal on a free kick and sophomore goalkeeper Alexa Rinaudo (Bellmore, N.Y.) made eight saves, but Wesleyan University (Conn.) scored three second half goals including two from Victoria Matthews (West Windsor, N.J.) to help lift the Cardinals to a 4-1 win in Tuesday afternoon's non-conference women's soccer game.

With the loss, Elms moves to 2-6-1 on the season, while Wesleyan notches its first win of the season to improve to 1-3-3 overall.

Hannah Stone (Madison, Conn.) drew first blood for the Cardinals in the 33^rd minute when she received a through ball from Matthews who got a pass from Hannah Jellinek (Newton, Mass.) and was able to find the back of the net giving Wesleyan a 1-0 lead.

The Cardinals pulled away early in the second half when Matthews scored twice in a two-minute span (60^th and 62^nd minutes). Chrissy Gonzalez-Gandolfi (Woodinville, Wash.) assisted on the first goal, while Kaylie Williams (Danville, Calif.) set up the second strike to set the score at 3-0.

Witaszek put Elms on the board in the 74^th minute when she delivered a goal on a free kick but Maddy Chabot (Rye, N.Y.) put the lead back to three goals in the 85^th minute when she used a long pass from Stone and fired the ball into the back of the net to set the final score at 4-1.

Wesleyan outshot Elms 24-5 and placed 15 shots on target. Rinaudo made eight saves in 65:19 of action and junior Erika Aponte (Palmer, Mass.) made three saves in the final 24:41 for the Blazers.

Cardinals' goalkeeper Jessica Tollman (Brookline, Mass.) made two saves in the winning effort.

Elms returns to non-league action on Thursday, October 3 when it hosts Clark University at 7:00 p.m. at Leary Field.