No. 3 Women's Soccer Bests No. 6 Mitchell College in NECC Championship First Round

CHICOPEE, Mass. – Elms College freshmen midfielder Marissa Yowell (Ashland, Mass.) and freshman forward Hannah Spring (South Hadley, Mass.) each netted a goal to help pace the third-seeded Blazers to a 2-0 victory over No. 6 Mitchell College in Wednesday evening's New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) Championship tournament first round women's soccer game at Leary Field.

With the win, Elms improves to 8-9-2 overall and advances to play No. 2 Regis College (10-2-3) in a semifinal contest on Friday, Nov. 2 at 7:30 p.m. in Weston, Mass. The Pride earned a 5-0 win over Newbury College to punch its ticket to the semifinals. Mitchell concludes its season, 4-10 overall.

Yowell delivered the first strike in the 21^st minute of the game when she found space in the middle following some brilliant footwork and fired the ball off the outstretched hands of Mitchell's diving goalkeeper Kaylee Woodford (Niantic, Conn.) to give Elms a 1-0 lead.

The Blazers held the advantage until the 58^th minute when Hannah Spring collected a loose ball in front of the net just outside the six-yard box and drilled a shot to the far right corner and in to give Elms a 2-0 lead.

Elms controlled pace of play for the majority of the game, notching 17 shots on goal to the Mariners' eight, led by five shots on target from Yowell and three from junior forward Victoria Cebula (Granby, Mass.).

Mitchell notched three shots on goal from Alexandra Charles (Massapequa, N.Y.) and two each from Alexandra Mahar (Watertown, Conn.) and Rebecca Tabak (North Haven, Conn.).

Woodford was terrific between the posts in defeat, making 15 saves, while her counterpart, freshman Alexa Rinaudo (Bellmore, N.Y.) turned away eight shots of her own to seal the win for Elms.