NORTON, Mass. - First year midfielder
Skye Gibbons (Weymouth, Mass.) found herself wide open on the back post as the Wheaton College (Mass.) women's soccer team delivered a perfect corner kick right to her area of the field. The unmarked midfielder placed a picture perfect header past the Wellesley goalkeeper and into the back of the net to give Wheaton their second goal in a 2-0 win over their New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference rivals on Saturday afternoon.
Wheaton improved to 6-3-2 and 3-1-1 in the NEWMAC with the win while Wellesley fell to 5-5-2 and 2-2-1 in the NEWMAC following the loss.
Gibbons scored her first collegiate goal to score the second for the Lyons after sophomore
Camila Leiva (Warwick, R.I.) scored her conference-leading eleventh goal of the season in the first half. Fellow sophomore
Karina Contreras (Pawtucket, R.I.) picked up the assist on the first goal while set piece specialist
Kate Rafferty (Westerly, R.I.) had the helper on Gibbons' goal. Sophomore goalkeeper
Olivia King (Simsbury, Conn.) made five saves to secure her fifth clean sheet of the season.
Wellesley was held to just five shots on goal across the 90 minutes. Sophomore Alice Lee (Dallas, Texas) had two shots on goal in 83 minutes of play to lead the Blue. First year Rachel Burns (Scottsdale, Ariz.) and senior Olivia Chow-Gilette (Dallas, Texas) were at the tip of the spear of the Wellesley offense, but both were held to only one shot on goal. Substitute midfielder Solveig Unteroberdoerster (Washington, D.C.) added fitness and depth to the Wellesley midfield off the bench and picked up the only other shot on goal for the Blue. Sophomore goalkeeper Olivia Lore (Blue Bell, Pa.) was called into action 11 times and made nine stops for her side.
Wheaton hit the ground running from the first whistle. Their pressure was consistent and carried plenty of weight as Leiva and Contreras immediately went to work on offense. Gibbons, Rafferty and senior
Maya Thomas (Goffstown, N.H.) were rock solid in the midfield as the Blue were hemmed into their own end in the early phases. The match held fast at 0-0 for only 11 minutes, as the pressure from the Lyons became too much for the Blue to bear.
After an attacking chance fizzled out, Lore collected the ball and distributed it out to her right. Contreras sensed the play and quickly stepped up to pick off the pass. Her interception put Wheaton on the charge, and Contreras led the Lyons down field. A single pass to Leiva on a run in the middle was all it took for Wheaton to score their first goal of the game. The 11th season-marker for Leiva gave her the most goals in a season for a Lyon since Chloe Troy '22 netted 11 goals in 2019. A composed finish into the bottom-left defeated Lore and set Wheaton out in front of the Blue. The Blue seemed shocked by the early score, and left the door open for the Lyons after the restart. Contreras had two shots go wide in quick succession as she immediately launched her pursuit for a second score.
Wellesley eventually settled in and began to put pressure on Wheaton with 15 minutes left in the frame. Chow-Gilette worked the ball down the left win after a poor turnover by the Lyons. She cruised past the defense and flicked a shot towards the top-left corner in hopes of beating King. With virtually no time to react, King palmed the ball up and off the crossbar. The rebound fell right to Chow-Gilette who fired a volley towards the same target. This time, she caught too much of the ball and put it off the woodwork for the second time in only four seconds. That chance went down as Wellesley's best as they headed into halftime trailing by a goal.
Wheaton continued to control the tempo of the match in the second half as the defense continued to hold strong. They quickly posted six consecutive shot attempts in a less-than subtle display of their eagerness to score again. The Blue was able to generate more offense, but again King was up to task as she made her first save of the half in the 63rd minute. Wheaton continued to push towards goal, and eventually won a corner kick. Rafferty stepped up to deliver the service, and placed a perfect pass right on the head of Gibbons who nodded home her team's second goal.
Contreras continued to push for a goal as if her side were down by one, but Lore was there to deny her on two separate occasions. The Lyons kept pressing the Blue all the way to the final whistle, and their unceasing pressure saw out the result without any drama. The Lyons won over the Blue by a score of 2-0.
Wheaton will hit the road for their next match as they head out to Springfield for a Wednesday evening contest versus the Pride at 7:00 pm. Wellesley will return home for their next match as they host WPI on Wednesday at 3:00 pm.
