Four First Half Goals Lift Women’s Soccer Past Becker College, 5-0

CHICOPEE, Mass. – Elms College sophomore midfielder Michelle Rossignol (Manchester, Conn.) netted a pair of first half goals to help lift the second-seeded Blazers to a 5-0 victory over seventh-seeded Becker College in Tuesday evening's New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) Championship tournament first round game at Leary Field.

With the win, Elms improves to 10-8-1 overall and will host No. 3 Bay Path College on Thursday, October 31 at 6:00 p.m. in semifinal action at Leary Field. The Wildcats downed sixth-seeded Newbury College on penalty kicks after playing to a 0-0 double overtime draw. Becker concludes its season 4-14-0 overall.

Elms found its groove early as sophomore forward Hannah Spring (South Hadley, Mass.) fired a shot that was saved by Becker goalkeeper Kaitlyn Rose (North Attleboro, Mass.) but fell right to Rossignol who fired the ball into the net in the 19^th minute of play to give the Blazers a 1-0 advantage.

Elms struck again in the 25^th minute when freshman midfielder Kylen O'Hearn (Somers, Conn.) rang a shot off the post and sophomore forward Melissa Welch (Westfield, Mass.) deposited the ball into the net to increase the lead to 2-0.

Freshman defender Kathleen Tuechler (Farmingdale, N.Y.) drilled a long shot into the top left corner of the net at the 37:04 mark and Rossignol scored her second of the game just three minutes later to give the Blazers a 4-0 cushion at intermission. Senior midfielder Victoria Cebula (Granby, Mass.) assisted on both scores.

The Hawks' Erika Galdamez (Concord, Calif.) registered a shot on target but Elms' sophomore net-minder Alexa Rinaudo (Bellmore, N.Y.) turned the offering aside. Lauren Zaleski (Avon, Mass.) tallied Becker's other shot of the half which sailed wide of target.

Midway through the second stanza, the Blazers capped the scoring when senior midfielder Christina Goodchild (East Longmeadow, Mass.) intercepted a Hawks' goal kick and fired a shot from 25 yards out into the far corner to give Elms its 5-0 win.

Rose was solid between the pipes despite the loss making 22 saves on the 27 shots she faced on goal.