No. 3 Women's Soccer Advances Past No. 2 Mitchell College in Penalty Kick Shootout

NEW LONDON, Conn. – Elms College freshman midfielder Sevonnah LaRochelle (Chicopee, Mass.) scored what stood as the game-winning goal in the final round of penalty kicks to lift the third-seeded Blazers to a thrilling victory over second-seeded Mitchell College in Thursday afternoon's New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) Championship tournament semifinal women's soccer game in New London, Conn.  

With the win Elms (9-5-4 overall) advances to the NECC Championship title game for the first time since the 2008 season. Mitchell concludes its season 9-4-3 overall. The Blazers will take on the winner of top-seeded Lesley University (13-3-1 overall) and No. 4 Becker College (10-8-2 overall) who will square off on Thursday, Nov. 3 at 8:15 p.m. Championship start time is slated for 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 4 at the highest remaining seed. The winner will earn the NECC's automatic qualifier to the NCAA Division III Championship.

With the contest tied at 3-3 following regulation and two 10-minute sudden death overtimes, the semifinal was then decided in penalty kicks.

In the opening two rounds of the shootout, neither team gained an advantage as both teams misfired including two hit posts by the Mariners.

In the third round, Elms' sophomore forward Chelsea Carroll (Meriden, Conn.) converted her opportunity, while Mitchell's Lauren Fritsch (Cromwell, Conn.) followed suit to even the shootout at 1-1.

Blazers' sophomore midfielder Christina Goodchild (East Longmeadow, Mass.) put Elms ahead, 2-1. The Mariners' Nikki Hoxie (Winsted, Conn.) was the third Mitchell player to hit the post in the shootout giving LaRochelle the chance to kick the Blazers into the finals. The first-year forward capitalized with a goal to seal the thrilling 3-1 penalty-kick victory for Elms.

The Blazers took an early two-goal lead in the first period when LaRochelle scored on a redirected free kick by sophomore defender Allyson Witaszek (Feeding Hills, Mass.) in the 16^th minute.

Elms' sophomore midfielder Gianna Gorneault (Springfield, Mass.) then scored on a pass from Goodchild in the 23^rd minute to give the Blazers a 2-0 lead before Mitchell's Maariyah Lombardo (Middletown, Conn.) cut the lead in half with a shot to the right side of the net 10 minutes later.

Lombardo added her second tally of the contest at the 41:13 mark to even the match at 2-2 at halftime.

Out of the break, Gorneault put Elms back on top when she scored her 13^th goal of the season on a double assist from Goodchild and LaRochelle in the 50^th minute of play.

With less than five minutes to play in regulation, Hoxie collected the rebound on a saved shot by Lombardo and deposited the equalizing goal into the net to knot the game at 3-3 with 2:34 remaining in the game.

Neither team registered a shot on goal in the first overtime period, while Hoxie drilled a shot that was corralled by Blazers' senior goalkeeper Kelly Callahan (Monson, Mass.) to keep the game deadlocked at 3-3 two minutes into the second stanza of extra time.

With 20 ticks remaining in the second overtime, LaRochelle sailed a shot wide of goal setting the stage for the penalty kick shootout.   

Callahan finished with six saves in the winning effort for Elms, while Mariners' net-minder Kaylee Woodford (Niantic, Conn.) finished with eight saves, seven of which came in the opening 45 minutes.