SOUTH HADLEY, Mass. -- Sophomore Hannah Keochakian scored her third goal of the second half with 1:02 remaining to lift Mount Holyoke College to a 4-4 tie with visiting Nichols College in a wild non-conference women's soccer game played Monday evening at MHC Soccer Field.
Mount Holyoke (1-12-1) trailed 3-0 through 50 minutes before mounting a determined comeback, with a pair of goals by Keochakian (Amherst, Mass.) in the 52nd and 75th minutes. The Lyons tied the game at 3-3 in the 80th minute on a goal by first-year Anna Kennedy (Glendale, Wis.), but Nichols regained the lead at 4-3 only 28 seconds later on Grace Killman's second goal of the game.
Nichols (7-6-2) got two goals and an assist from Killman, along with goals by Maegan Roy and Falyn Hunt.
Mount Holyoke outshot Nichols by a 26-21 margin and had a 6-3 advantage in corner kicks.
Adie Hughes made 12 saves in goal for Nichols. Junior Shannon Breen (Upper Saddle River, N.J.) started in goal for Mount Holyoke and made four saves while allowing Nichols' first three goals. First-year Clarissa Govea (Pico Rivera, Calif.) came on for the final 35 minutes and made seven saves against one goal allowed.
Nichols got on the scoreboard in the 16th minute as Killman's lead pass to Roy set up an open shot inside the penalty area. The Bison doubled their lead in the 33rd minute as Hunt gathered the ball near midfield after a Mount Holyoke goal kick and alertly launched an improbable shot from 40 yards away that traveled over Breen and ducked under the crossbar.
The Bison seized a 3-0 lead less than two minutes later, with 11:03 remaining in the first half, after they were awarded a free kick just outside the penalty area. Killman struck a hard shot around the Mount Holyoke wall, off of Breen's hand and inside the far right post.
After several missed scoring chances earlier in the game, Mount Holyoke got on the board in the 53rd minute as Keochakian received a through pass from first-year Rachel Baleto (Schertz, Texas) and chipped a looping shot from a far corner of the box over Hughes and in. It was the Lyons' leading scorer's first goal since Sept. 10.
The score remained 3-1 until the 75th minute, as the Lyons continued to pressure the Nichols goal. After Nichols attempted to clear the ball out of the penalty area, senior back Lo Jean-Jacques (Miami, Fla.) bicycle-kicked a volley back into the box, where Keochakian ran up onto the ball for an open shot against a defenseless Hughes, which she buried to close the gap to 3-2.
The Lyons completed their comeback by tying the game in the 80th minute, as first-year Ada Siepmann (Vlotho, Germany) set up Anna Kennedy's brilliant left-footed shot from 25 yards out, which found the narrow space between a diving Hughes and the far right post. The goal is Kennedy's second of the season.
The hysteria from Mount Holyoke's bench was soon subdued, however, as Nichols retook the lead with 9:34 left on the clock. Out of a loose ball, a poke pass from Amanda Simco set up a lefty finish from the middle of the box by Killman for the would-be game-winning goal.
But as the game entered its final minute, Siepmann won control of the ball as it traveled into the Nichols penalty area, and her perfectly placed short cross into the middle set up Keochakian for a close-range finish.
Keochakian's first collegiate hat trick gives her six goals on the season.
Mount Holyoke will host Smith College Wednesday at 7pm in a NEWMAC game. Nichols will host Gordon in a CCC game on Wednesday at 3:30pm.
