Blue Soccer Drops 2-0 Decision at Wheaton

NORTON, Mass. – Wellesley College women's soccer dropped a 2-0 decision to host Wheaton College on Saturday afternoon at Mirrione Stadium in a New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) matchup. The Blue drop to 7-3-2 overall (1-1-0 NEWMAC) with the result, while Wheaton moves to 7-4-1 (1-1-0 NEWMAC). 

The Lyons outshot Wellesley, 18-6, in the match, while the Blue held a 4-1 margin in corners. Wellesley's Juliette Fry and Melissa Knowles tied for the team-lead in shots with two apiece.

Wheaton sophomore  Kaitlin Montoya deposited the game-winning goal in the 41st minute, while senior co-captain Lauren Corigliano collected her 75th career point with an insurance goal at the 71:59 mark. Lyons' junior forward/midfielder Julia Cipriano was credited with assists on both tallies pushing her team-leading total to seven on the season.

Wellesley senior goalkeeper Claire Cerda made seven saves in the first half before junior goalkeeper Kat Goldsmith relieved her in the second stanza with two stops. Wheaton junior goalkeeper Ali Hinton turned away three shots to earn her third shutout of the season and seventh career clean sheet. 

Sophomore back Brooke Collard nearly opened up the scoring in the 36th minute with a header off of a corner kick, but the Wellesley defense blocked the shot from going in to keep the score level. Classmate Sydney Ferrell quickly followed with a hard shot off of Collard's rebound, but this time Cerda came up with the point-blank stop with a sprawling save.

Montoya broke through for the hosts at the 40:25 mark as she corralled a cross from Cipriano at the top of the 18-yard box and lofted a shot over Cerda's leap into the top left corner of the net for her fourth goal of the season.

In the second half, Cipriano added her second assist of the day with a cross to Corigliano, who was positioned inside the box, from about 20-yards over halfway line on the right flank. Corigliano one-touched the ball to her feet and followed with a strike into the lower left corner of the net for the 2-0 advantage.

Wellesley will welcome Babson for a 4:00 PM NEWMAC contest on Tuesday. Wheaton will host MIT on Tuesday, October 7 at 4 p.m.