Women's Soccer Thumps Newbury

Chris Kendrick (@CKendrick86)

CHICOPEE, Mass. – The Elms College women's soccer team registered their third straight New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) victory with a 5-0 win over visiting Newbury College in conference play at Leary Field Monday afternoon. With the win, the Blazers improve to 9-3-1 on the season, and 3-1 in NECC action, while Newbury drops to 3-8 overall, and 1-3 in the NECC.

The Blazers controlled possession early in the match, forcing four shots and three corner kicks. In the 12^th minute, Elms sophomore Jackie Soucia (Belchertown, Mass.) launched a corner kick to the back post where junior Kathleen Tuechler (Farmingdale, N.Y.) swooped in for a header into the back of the net, staking the Blazers to a 1-0 lead.

At the 22:24 mark of the first half, Elms sophomore Brie Voight (Springfield, Mass.) gathered a long ball played through the midfield, raced past the Nighthawks defensive backfield, and beat Newbury senior goalkeeper Elizabeth Fox (Orono, Maine) with a shot to the low right side, increasing the Elms advantage to 2-0. Just over four minutes later, the Blazers pushed their edge to 3-0 as Tuechler struck again, heading home a corner kick serve from sophomore Mackenzie LaRochelle (Chicopee, Mass.) in the 27^th minute. The Blazers carried their 3-0 lead into the intermission.

The Blazers continued their momentum into the second half as Soucia delivered a cross to the front of the Nighthawks goal, finding Voight, who tucked a shot past Fox, padding the Elms advantage to 4-0 with 40:30 to play. In the 64^th minute of play, Voight and Soucia connected again as Voight played a cross to the front of the goal where Soucia ripped a shot into the top of the net, securing the 5-0 victory for Elms.

"We had a very good result today," said Elms College Head Coach Sean Milbier. "We played very well, and we scored early and often. We were much better today than Saturday, the pace was much faster and the team had a lot more energy. Five goals is huge for us, with most of our games coming down to one goal, so to put in five pretty nice goals was big for us. We had a few lapses defensively where we let them get in behind, and a couple communication breakdowns that we'll clean up heading into next game. Next Saturday will be a very difficult match. Southern Vermont is a very tough place to play, and it's on grass which isn't the surface we are use to playing on. Southern Vermont is a very organized team, especially defensively, so we just need to make sure we bring the energy and control the speed of the game."

The Blazers outshot the Nighthawks, 23-2, during the contest. Elms senior goalkeeper Alexa Rinaudo (Bellmore, N.Y.) made two saves in 70 minutes of action before being relieved by junior Meeghan O'Connor (Fall River, Mass.). Fox stopped a match-high eight shots for Newbury.

Elms will return to action with an NECC road trip to Southern Vermont College Saturday afternoon. Kickoff is slated for 1:00 p.m. Newbury travels to Mitchell College for a conference match Saturday at 2:30 p.m.

ELMS SOCCER