Women’s Soccer Undone by Saint Joseph in Second Half
WEST HARTFORD, Conn. – Mount Ida hung with University of Saint Joseph in a high-scoring first half, but were unable to score after the break and fell 11-3 on Saturday afternoon in Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) women's soccer action.
Rachael Reese (Santa Cruz, Calif.) scored her second goal of the year to pull the Mustangs back within a goal after the Blue Jays had taken a 2-0 lead. After another Saint Joseph goal, Sierra Legge (Schodack Landing, N.Y.) again got the Mustangs to within one with her fourth goal of the year nearly twenty minutes into the action.
Saint Joseph senior midfielder Nicole Mendelson (Southbury, Conn.) set a single-game school record with six assists – four of them on goals by Lindsey Cifaldi (Wolcott, Conn.). With Mendelsons' help, the home team regained a three-goal advantage before Briana Tomaselli (Warwick, R.I.) struck with her team-leading eighth of the year to close the first half scoring 14 minutes from the halftime whistle.
Cifaldi had by far her best scoring game as the sophomore entered the game with two career goals. She put in a rebound after a Mendelson free kick that went off the crossbar on one goal and cashed in on set pieces for the other three, each time heading in a corner kick from Mendelson.
USJ put up the first two goals quickly. Sara Barnick (Watertown, Conn.) had the first of her three goals, just 3:26 in off a feed from Tiana Saraceno (Plainville, Conn.) Barnick returned the favor 36 seconds later feeding Saraceno for a 2-0 score.
All six of Saint Joseph's goals in the second half came in a 12:02 span. Cifaldi put in a corner from Mendelson and Patricia Nolan (Portland, Conn.) scored her team-leading 12th goal of the season before Mendelson bent in a corner for an 8-3 lead in the 53rd minute. Cifaldi tucked in a rebound off a Mendelson free kick that went off the crossbar at 55:35 and the pair connected for the final time of the day on the familiar corner kick-header combination at 59:24. Barnick's third goal closed the scoring at 62:01.
Mount Ida freshman netminder Rebecca Beaulieu (Weare, N.H.) made five saves in fifty-six minutes of action, while sophomore Alexis Gould (Leominster, Mass.) saw action in the final 33:50 and made one stop while allowing two goals.
Sophomore Melissa Dodge (Watertown, Conn.) made four stops for the Blue Jays, who outshot Mount Ida 24-12 and had a 9-1 edge in corner kicks.
Mount Ida (2-10, 1-6 GNAC) will return home for a quick turn-around, as they host Johnson & Wales on Monday at noon as part of a Columbus day double-header.
Saint Joseph (8-4-1, 4-2-1 GNAC) returns to action Monday as well in a GNAC game at Simmons at 1 p.m.
