South Hadley, Mass. - October 5, 2019 - The Mount Holyoke College soccer team fell to Springfield College, 4-0, in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) play at the MHC Soccer Field on Saturday afternoon.
With the loss, the Lyons fall to 2-8-1 overall and 0-3-0 in the league, while the Pride is now 7-2-1 on the year with a 2-1 mark against conference opponents.
In net for Mount Holyoke College, Maria-Lucia Delgado (Bronx, N.Y.) made a career-best 14 saves, while Bridget O'Connor (Hanover, Mass.) needed to make just three saves in the victory. The Pride owned a 33-4 advantage in shots over 90 minutes of play, while it was also awarded eight corner kicks compared to Mount Holyoke College's one. Each team had five fouls.
After back-and-forth play to start the game, Springfield College broke through in the 20th minute as Sara Swetland (Manchester, N.H.) picked off a pass from the Mount Holyoke College defenders and went in on a breakaway with Delgado. Once she broke free, Swetland tucked a point-blank shot into the bottom right corner of the net to give the Pride a 1-0 lead. Just 1:07 later, Springfield added another as Kaleigh Dale (Mansfield, Conn.) took the ball in the middle of field and made a move to her right with her back to the goal, setting up a left-footed shot that carried into the right side of the net to make it 2-0, Pride, with 24:28 to play in the half.
Following that series, the Lyons got their first shot at the Springfield College goal, and it was a quality scoring chance, as Sarah Forster (Worcester, Mass.) got loose and rocketed a shot on goal, which took a diving effort from O'Connor to tip wide of the net, resulting in a corner kick for Mount Holyoke College. Springfield was able to clear away the chance to keep the Lyons at bay.
Springfield College pushed its lead to three with 15:28 to play in the half as Adalia Malick (Bristol, Conn.) sent a high-arching cross from the right flank to the back post, where Dale was waiting for an easy header into the back of the net for her second goal of the game, making it 3-0 prior to the halftime break.
The Pride would add another in the second half as Ashley Macdonald (Bristol, Conn.) would sneak a through ball past the Lyons' back line to Swetland, who calmly tucked it past Delgado to push Springfield's lead to four, a lead they would carry for the rest of regulation.
Up next, the Lyons will return to the MHC Soccer Field on Tuesday, October 8 for a 6 p.m. tilt with Coast Guard in NEWMAC play.
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