NORTON, Mass. — Four different players scored for the Wheaton College (Mass.) women's soccer team, including two with their first respective collegiate goals in a 4-0 victory over visiting Bridgewater State University today in Norton, Mass.
The match was delayed twice by weather events. The first delay was due to a tornado warning that stopped the match with 2:09 remaining in the first half and lasted approximately 30 minutes. The second delay was due to a lightning strike with 30:30 left in the match. The contest began on the Lyons' home field at Mirrione Stadium, but was completed at Wheaton's Nordin Field due to the lack of light at Mirrione.
The Lyons improve to 2-2-1 on the season, while the Bears fall to 1-2-0.
Wheaton held a 21-14 shot advantage, while Bridgewater State was awarded both corner kicks in the match.
The Lyons scored a pair of goals on the grass field at Mirrione Stadium, before netting two more markers on the Nordin turf in the final 20:10 of play.
Sophomore forward Kate Wickenheisser (Oxford, Conn.) put Wheaton on the board in the 37th minute with her team-leading fifth goal of the season. Wickenheisser carried the ball into the right side of the box, before uncorking a shot that looked to be handled by the BSU keeper, only to slip through her gloves and into the back of the net.
The score proved to be the only goal of the opening half.
The Lyons added to the lead with their second goal coming in the 59th minute. Sophomore midfielder Raquel Garces (Somerset, N.J.) sent a thru-ball into the top of the box, where junior forward Lily Brown (Warwick, R.I.) collected the ball and ripped a shot into the far right corner for her second marker of the season.
The teams moved to the turf, where sophomore midfielder Julia Sternat (Ellington, Conn.) lifted a shot from the right side of the field that snuck just under the crossbar and just over the outstretched fingertips of the Bears' keeper from 30 yards out. The shot resulted in Sternat's first collegiate goal for Wheaton and a 3-0 lead in the 70th minute of action.
Once the team's made it past the 70-minute mark to signify an official game, the weather continued to flex its muscles with a downpour of rain that both teams battled through in the remaining minutes. Lyon first year forward Mackenna Reynolds (Longmeadow, Mass.) was undeterred, marching toward Bridgewater's defensive zone on a breakaway, where she carried the ball into the box, before flicking a shot into the right corner with just 26 ticks left in the match for a 4-0 final.
The Bears' best chances to score came with less than seven minutes to play in the game. Senior forward Audra McDuffie (Millbury, Mass.) fired a shot within the confines of the box that was turned away, before sophomore midfielder Jenna Sweeney (Wilmington, Mass.) also took aim with a shot just 27 seconds later. Both tries were denied by first year keeper Leo Julien (Seekonk, Mass.), who had come on in relief late in the second half for Wheaton. Julien was tested again with 51 seconds left, but was up to the task to keep Bridgewater State first year Rebecca Russo's (Shrewsbury, Mass.) out of the net.
Sophomore goalie Patricia Bandrup (Poway, Calif.) stopped all five shots she faced in the first 71:52 of play, before yielding to Julien, who also turned away five attempts to combine on the clean sheet for the Lyons. Sophomore goalie Logan Levesque (Bristol, R.I.) finished with nine saves for the Bears.
Wheaton returns to play on Saturday, September 16 when it hosts Babson College at Mirrione Stadium for a 1:00 p.m. match to open the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference slate, while Bridgewater State travels to Worcester, Mass. to take on Worcester State University on the same day for a 4:00 p.m. kickoff.
