South Hadley, Mass. - October 23, 2021 - The Mount Holyoke College soccer team fell to visiting WPI, 6-0, in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) play at the MHC Soccer Field on Saturday. The Lyons played Saturday's contest in awareness of trans and non-binary athletes everywhere.
With the win, WPI improves to 10-5-1 overall and 4-3-1 in league play, while the Lyons slip to 2-10 on the year with an 0-8 record against NEWMAC teams. WPI held a 33-7 shot advantage over 90 minutes of play, while also receiving eight corner kicks to the Lyons' one.
In net for the Lyons, Shannon Breen (Upper Saddle River, N.J.) was kept busy and made 11 stops over 90 minutes of play, while the Engineers' trio of Lili Hellerman, Lauren Paul and Kelsey Leach combined for the clean sheet. Hellerman, who played the whole first half, made a pair of stops en route to her fourth win of the year.
WPI got on the board just 7:16 into the contest when Sofia Orrico took a pass along the left sideline and carried the ball towards goal before slipping a shot inside the right post to make it 1-0, Engineers. Just 30 seconds later, WPI pushed its lead to a pair as Grace Casey sent a long pass behind the Lyons' back line which was collected by Hannah Wolfgang, who tucked her third goal of the season past Breen to make it 2-0 with 37:44 on the clock.
The Lyons best chance of the game came with 14:27 to play in the first half as Rocio Perez-Salas (Dorado, Puerto Rico) sent a long pass into the WPI defensive territory that was caught up to by Avery Livingston (La Grange, Ill.), but Hellerman came up with the save to keep Mount Holyoke at bay.
The Engineers added their third goal of the contest just 5:14 into the second half when Ashleigh Matsis played a ball across the field to the left side of the box that was caught up to by Wolfgang. The sophomore then touched a pass to Madisyn Bagby for a shot that Breen initially saved, but the ball ended up crossing to make it 3-0.
Just 18 second later, WPI added their fourth goal of the contest when Bagby played a ball deep into the Lyons' defensive territory that was caught up to by Caitlin Strzegowski, who then made a quick cross to Matsis for her first goal of the season.
Bagby would then go on to set up Julia Karman's first goal of the season as the first year sent in a corner kick before Karman out-muscled her defender and headed the cross into the back of the net with 14:37 to play in the contest, making it 5-0 Engineers.
Mount Holyoke put together a flurry of chances with 5:26 to play as Sarah Forster (Worcester, Mass.) had a point-blank opportunity that was blocked, forcing a corner kick for the Lyons. Perez-Salas then sent in a high-arching cross that landed at the feet of Sonia McCollum (Oakland, Calif.), but the first-year midfielder soared a shot high to keep the game at 5-0.
With 2:11 remaining, WPI's Meredith Eddy was granted a penalty kick and the senior converted for her second goal of the season, sealing the 6-0 win for the Engineers.
Up next, Mount Holyoke College will return to the MHC Soccer Field on Monday, October 25 for a battle with Wesleyan in non-conference play.
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