SOUTH HADLEY, Mass. -- Sophomore forward Hannah Keochakian buried a penalty shot in the 52nd minute and the Mount Holyoke College soccer team held off rival Smith College for a 1-0 NEWMAC victory Wednesday night at MHC Soccer Field.
Keochakian (Amherst, Mass.) was taken down in the Smith penalty area as the Lyons threatened to score, and she was awarded with the first penalty shot of the season for Mount Holyoke. Keochakian calmly kicked in a low shot into the right side of the goal as Smith goalkeeper Noemi Howland leaned the other way.
Smith (4-7-3, 1-4-2) held a 19-12 advantage in shots attempted, but shots on goal were even at 6-6, as were corner kicks at 3-3.
Mount Holyoke (2-12-1, 1-6-0 NEWMAC) grabbed its first conference win since 2018, and its first win over Smith since 2013.
Mount Holyoke first-year goalie Clarissa Govea (Pico Rivera, Calif.) made six saves in posting her second shutout of the season. Howland made five saves for the visiting Pioneers.
Two days after a thrilling 4-4 tie against Nichols College, in which Keochakian scored the tying goal with 1:02 remaining and finished with three goals, Mount Holyoke put together its best performance of the season, controlling the ball slightly more than the Pioneers, particularly in the first half.
Following Keochakian's score, the Pioneers ratcheted up their offensive pressure, outshooting Mount Holyoke 9-4 over the final 38 minutes and 5-0 over the final nine minutes. Mather Davidson made two late surges up the middle but sent one shot wide left and had the other blocked. With 90 seconds remaining, Govea made a final diving on a hard shot toward the left post by Kyla Warner. Abbie Ellis had two hard outside shots turned away by Govea in the first half.
First-year Rachel Baleto (Schertz, Texas) put two shots on goal for Mount Holyoke. Other standouts in the Lyons' poised performance included junior defender Echo Haverkamp (Philadelphia, Pa.) and first-years Ada Siepmann (Vlotho, Germany), Maia Lane (Chicago, Ill.) and Anna Kennedy (Glendale, Wis.).
Keochakian is now tied for third in the NEWMAC with her team-high seven goals.
Mount Holyoke will look to keep its momentum going at WPI this Saturday at noon.
