NORTON, Mass. – The Wheaton College (Mass.) women's soccer team netted three first half goals in a 3-1 victory over visiting Clark University (Mass.) this afternoon in New England Women's & Men's Athletic Conference play at Mirrione Stadium on the Wheaton campus in Norton, Mass.
The Lyons improve to 8-4-6 overall and 4-2-4 in league play and clinch a spot in next week's NEWMAC Championship Tournament, while the Cougars fall to 4-11-2 and 1-7-2.
Wheaton held an 11-10 shooting edge, despite Clark being the recipient of nine corner kicks to the Lyons' count of two.
Junior midfielder Ali Roche (Maynard, Mass.), senior forward Lily Brown (Warwick, R.I.) and first year forward Gina Trovato (Simsbury, Conn.) each tallied a goal for Wheaton, while first year forward Georgia Louis (West Hartford, Conn.) netted the lone goal for the visitors.
Roche put the Lyons on the board in the 14th minute of play when she converted a penalty kick for her sixth marker of the season to give Wheaton a 1-0 edge.
Brown doubled the Lyons' margin to 2-0 with her third tally of the season coming in the 33rd minute of action, before Trovato's score gave Wheaton a three-goal lead just 73 seconds before the end of the first half. The goal was the rookie's second of the season.
The Cougars were awarded seven corner kicks in the second half, including the first two of the session coming in the opening two-plus minutes of the half. Clark's only goal came off a set piece off a corner kick to cut the deficit to 3-1. Senior forward Isabella Ramirez (New York City, N.Y.) sent the ball from the corner into the goalmouth, where Louis was on the receiving end and converted the serve into her sixth goal of the season just 2:19 into the new half.
The match remained scoreless for the final 43 minutes of play.
Junior keeper Patricia Bandrup (Poway, Calif.) registered five saves for the Lyons, while senior goalie Anabella White (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) turned away five shots for the Cougars.
Wheaton returns to action on Saturday, November 2 when it hosts United States Coast Guard Academy at Mirrione Stadium for Senior Day at 1:00 p.m., while Clark hosts Babson College on the same day at the same time.
