South Hadley, Mass. - September 9, 2021 - The Mount Holyoke College soccer team suffered a 9-0 loss to nationally-ranked Amherst College on Thursday evening under the lights at a rainy MHC Soccer Field.
With the loss, the Lyons are now 1-2 on the year while the Mammoths, which came into the season ranked No. 10 in the United Soccer Coaches Division III National Rankings, improve to 1-0 to begin their 2021 campaign. The visitors produced 33 shots in 90 minutes of action, 28 of which came in the first half.
Sophomore goalkeeper Shannon Breen (Upper Saddle River, N.J.) notched 12 saves in the loss, while first-year Olivia Willison (Haddonfield, N.J.) came on for the final 27:53 of the contest. Amherst's Mika Fisher picked up the win and played the first 45 minutes, before Brooke Harrington and Katya Besch came on to preserve the clean sheet for the Mammoths.
Amherst got off to a quick start when Sophia Fikke sent in a corner that was headed past Breen by Alexa Juarez to give the Mammoths a 1-0 lead just 43 seconds into the contest. Senior Natalie Landau then gave Amherst a 3-0 lead with a pair of goals just 2:33 apart including a beautiful strike from well outside the box that curled into the right side of the net.
With 11:50 remaining in the first half, Liza Katz buried a rebound chance that was created by Abby Schwartz before Patience Kum picked up consecutive goals just 2:39 apart to make it 6-0, Amherst. Schwartz then got on the board with an unassisted strike with 4:10 to play in the frame, before the Mammoths finished an eight-goal first half with a strike from Izzy Geneve.
Katz converted just 11:11 into the second half to make it 9-0 Amherst, a lead that the visitors sat on until the final whistle.
Mount Holyoke College will open up New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) play when it returns to action on Saturday, September 18 and hosts Springfield College at 2 p.m.
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