BENNINGTON, Vt.- The Southern Vermont College Women's Soccer team fell in the 2011 New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) season opener Saturday afternoon 4-0 at Everett Field. The Mountaineers took on NECC newcomer Regis College.
The Pride found the back of the net in the early goings when league leader Adena Joseph collected a loose ball and beat the keeper near post 52 seconds in. Joseph did her part again in the 19th minute as she played a diagonal ball that Michelle Sirois finished for a 2-0 Regis lead. Regis would score one more time before the end of the first half when Kristen Abreu beat her defender to a ball and finished it home.
In the second half the Mountaineers made adjustments to hold a pesky Pride offense to only one goal. Throughout the second half, SVC had breakaway opportunities that they just missed. SVC's closet chance came when Connor Crawford beat the defense to a loose ball before her shot sailed just wide. Sirois scored her second goal of the match at the 54 minute mark to give Regis a demanding 4-0 lead.
The Pride held on in the remaining 36 minutes for its first ever NECC victory. For the match Regis outshot SVC 25-5 and had 6 corner kicks to the Mountaineers two.
Regis improves to 4-1 (1-0 NECC) while the Mountaineers drop to 1-4 (0-1 NECC) in 2011. Southern Vermont will next host New England College Tuesday as Regis will travel to Eastern Nazarene Tuesday afternoon. SVC falls to 0-3 in the all time series against Regis dating back to 2007.