Zhou's First Collegiate Goal Sends Blue Soccer Past UMass Boston, 1-0

WELLESLEY, Mass. -- First year Liz Zhou (McLean, Va.) scored her first collegiate goal to lead Wellesley College soccer to a 1-0 non-conference victory over UMass Boston on a hot and humid Wednesday afternoon at the Wellesley Fields Complex. With the win, Wellesley improves to 2-1-0 on the season. UMass Boston drops to 0-2-0 on the year. 

Zhou put the Blue ahead in the 31st minute, beating UMass Boston first year goalkeeper Abby McCulloch (Weymouth, Mass.) to her right when she lofted the ball inside the post following a cross from junior Emily Tran (Vienna, Va.).  The helper was Tran's second in three games to open 2018.

McCulloch (0-2-0), making her second career start for the Beacons, turned back 10 shots, as Wellesley had the advantage in shots on goal, 11-3. UMass Boston ended the game with a 15-12 edge in total shots but only forced Wellesley junior goalkeeper Olivia Reckley (Grosse Ile, Mich.) to make three stops. Reckley (2-1-0) turned back all three attempts to record her second shutout of the year.

Both teams had goals called back in the first half, as the Beacons were denied on one of their four corner kick attempts due to an obstruction call in front of the Wellesley net and the Blue saw a shot from Deyanira Ibarra (Los Olivos, Calif.) called back on an offside play.

Next up, Wellesley will host Wesleyan (Conn) in non-conference action on Sunday at 12:00 PM. UMass Boston will take on Western New England on Saturday at 1:00 PM on the first day of Husson's Courtyard by Marriott Classic in Bangor, Maine.