BENNINGTON, Vt. — All of the scoring happened in the first half as the Southern Vermont College women's soccer team dropped its season opener 2-1 to the visiting Mount Holyoke College Lyons in non-conference action at Everett Field on Tuesday.
MHC (1-0) went up early on a penalty kick before the Mountaineers (0-1) tied it up soon after with a well-executed pass and finish. The Lyons went back in front in the 27th minute, and the match went scoreless the rest of the way for the Mount Holyoke victory.
The Mountaineers next head north for the Norwich University Kickoff Tournament over the weekend, starting with a 2 p.m. first touch versus the hosting Cadets on Friday. Mount Holyoke now sets its sights on a road trip to Nichols College on Saturday, start time slated for 2 p.m.
Mount Holyoke controlled momentum through most of the first 15 minutes with the exception of one Mountaineer charge, but the SVC defense was tough enough to keep the Lyons from taking advantage and get multiple shots off. Finally, MHC got a quality look at goal when sophomore Liz Rose (South Hamilton, Mass.) got into the box on the left side; she pulled the trigger, only to have the ball ricochet off of a Mountaineer defender's arm and get called for the penalty. First-year student Sara Sanaú Ruiz (Zaragoza, Spain) stepped up and hit the shot into the right side of the goal to give the visitors the 1-0 upper hand 9:20 into the game.
That score stood for about the next eight minutes until SVC tied it with a great finish on a pass from the midfield. SVC freshman Molly Madore (Higganum, Conn.) slotted it up the left third of the pitch, right on the center line, to junior Lauren Nesshoever (Chittenden, Vt.) who ran onto it and went one-on-one with the MHC keeper. The Southern Vermont striker took a nice, soft touch around the goalie, got back to the ball and pushed it into the open net for the equalizer.
With 19 minutes left to go in the first, the Lyons went back ahead on a crossing pass from the left side. Sophomore Jentrie Grissom (North Ogden, Utah) hit the ball through the box to the far post where Rose was able to run onto and bang it into the back of the net for her first of the year. The Lyons had a handful of chances in the waning minutes of the opening period but could not capitalize as the match went to the break with Mount Holyoke still up 2-1.
The second half was full of strong defensive play as the keepers helped keep the game tight with the one-goal difference. With about 10 minutes to go, Nesshoever had a chance to tie things up at 2-2 as she went in at the keeper from the right side, but MHC junior goalie Zoe Marshall (Mississauga, Ontario) was able to corral the ball to preserve the lead as the Lyons held on for the victory.
Marshall (0-1) finished with four saves on the day while her counterpart, SVC sophomore Melissa Mascari (Saratoga Springs, N.Y.), stopped 12 Lyon shots in the loss (0-1).
Molly Madore to Lauren Nesshoever