Women's Soccer Opens NECC Play With Road Win

FRANKLIN, Mass. – The Elms College women's soccer team opened New England Collegiate Conference play with a convincing 2-0 win at Dean College on Saturday afternoon.

Shannon Ryan (Leeds, Mass.) put Elms (4-2-1, 1-0 NECC) on the board in the 17th minute with an unassisted goal. The score stood until the 63rd minute when the Blazers' top two point-getters connected for the insurance goal. Alizaya Clark (Springfield, Mass.) netted her team-leading third goal of the season of an assist from Sydney Goodwin. It was Goodwin's second assist of the year to go with a pair of goals, and both players now have six points on the season.

The Blazers peppered Dean goalkeeper Macy Pariesee (East Freetown, Mass.) with 15 shots on goal in the game and owned a 32-3 advantage in total shots. Goodwin fired a game-high seven shots, including four on-goal, while Ryan finished with five shots, all on-goal. Jordan Bailey had five shots as well.

Rebecca Molin (West Hartford, Conn.) played 65 minutes in goal and made one save for Elms and Paige Silva (Swansea, Mass.) covered 25 minutes and also made one save to preserve the combined shutout.

Miranda Seacord (Cambridge, N.Y.) and Alison Buckley (Guilford, Vt.) each finished with one shot for the Bulldogs and Parisee made an impressive 13 saves. Elms owned an 8-1 advantage in corner kicks in the game.

The Blazers will visit Western New England on Sept. 19 before returning to NECC play on Sept. 22 when conference-rival Lesley visits Leary Field. The Blazers and Lynx have combined to win the last six NECC championships and were picked to finish first and second in the NECC this season. Dean will host Fitchburg State on Sept. 18.