Women's Soccer Edges Clark

Chris Kendrick (@CKendrick86)

CHICOPEE, Mass. – The Elms College women's soccer team outlasted visiting Clark University, 1-0, in a non-conference clash at Leary Field Tuesday night. With the win, the Blazers improve to 7-3 on the season, while Clark dips to 5-2-1 overall.

Elms sophomore goalkeeper Rebecca Molin (West Hartford, Conn.) stopped back-to-back attempts from Clark junior Alex Pariseau (Millbury, Mass.) in the 10^th minute of play to keep the Cougars off the scoreboard early. Clark sophomore goalie Julianna Christy (Plainville, Conn.) made a crucial diving save on an attempt from Elms senior Mackenzie LaRochelle (Chicopee, Mass.) in the 27^th minute to preserve the scoreless contest.

After playing to a scoreless first half of action, the Blazers broke the scoreless tie in the 65^th minute as senior Brie Voight (Springfield, Mass.) had a shot attempt deflected outside the box, but LaRochelle grabbed the loose ball and fired a shot into the far corner from 30 yards out to provide the difference maker for Elms.

The Cougars outshot the Blazers, 14-10, during the contest. Molin made five saves in her sixth clean sheet of the season, while Christy stopped five shots for Clark in the loss.

"That's a big time win," said Elms College Head Coach Sean Milbier. "Clark is a solid team, very-well coach with a lot of talent who can move the ball well, so we knew [Clark] was going to be a handful for us, but we put in our game plan and executed it to perfection. We knew it was going to be a one-goal game, and we want keep the clean sheet and prevent them from getting close to our goal. As long as we kept the shots far out, we knew [Rebecca Molin] would make the save, and our backline was phenomenal. [Mackenzie LaRochelle] has an unbelievable shot with her right or left, and she hits the ball like nobody I've ever seen, and she had a beautiful goal tonight. We are playing like we have our identity back, we are hunting the ball, we are playing with heart, and we gave a real EC effort. Becker will be a big time conference match on the road. Becker is playing really well, they are scoring a lot of goal, and not giving up a lot of goal, and it's never an easy place to play, but we have three days to prepare and we'll get back on track in the conference."

The Blazers will be back in action with a New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) road trip to Becker Saturday for a 6:00 p.m. kickoff. Clark hosts MIT in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) play Friday at 7:00 p.m.

ELMS SOCCER