Box Score
BOSTON, Mass.—Trailing by one with 70 minutes remaining in their season, #2 UMass Boston women's soccer (11-4-5) answered with five consecutive goals to knock off #3 Eastern Connecticut State University, in a rematch of the 2013 Little East Conference Semifinals.
A year after falling 1-0 to the underdog Warriors on their home field, four different players scored for the Beacons, to send UMass Boston to their third Little East Conference Championship Game in five years. The victory marked just third Beacons' win in 24 all-time matchups against Eastern Connecticut State and their first in four all-time playoff matchups.
With the loss, the Warriors conclude their season at 13-6-1 and miss out on the LEC Title Game for just the sixth time in the past 14 years.
UMass Boston awaits the winner of Thursday's second Little East Conference second semifinal between #1 Western Connecticut State University and #4 Keene State College. The Beacons would travel to Western Connecticut State if the Colonials win Thursday, or they would host Keene State, if the Owls were to pull off the upset.
Senior Krista Ledin (Bridgewater, Mass.) led the charge with her 103rd and 104th career goals to move into a tie for 10th-place in NCAA Division III Women's Soccer history for career goals. The two-time defending Little East Conference Offensive Player of the Year tied the score at 1-1 with her fourth-career goal from the penalty-spot and tacked on the fifth goal to put the game out of reach.
Fellow senior Amanda Pugliese (Pembroke, Mass.) and freshman Marina Kelly (Whitman, Mass.) each recorded a goal and an assist, to help the Beacons improve to 8-0-2 at home this season.
Junior back Elisa Brooks (San Diego, Calif.) endured her most dramatic contest as a Beacon. The first-year transfer registered a bad give-away in her own goal-box that led to the Warriors' first goal, but responded with the the go-ahead goal. Her goal in 39th minute gave the Beacons' the lead for good and marked her first goal in Beacons Blue.
Ericka Garufi (Milton, Mass.) and Kara Peters (Agawam, Mass.) each added assists to help the Beacons' snap Eastern Connecticut State's eight-game winning streak. The Warriors had allowed just five goals during the eight-game streak.
Senior goalie Dani Perkins (Murrieta, Calif.) made two stops on four total shots on goal in her first playoff game since her freshman season
Eastern Connecticut State senior Taylor Shannon and leading-scorer Emily Becher each scored in the loss for the Warriors. Goalies Rachel Skelton, Kaley Kennedy and Katie Dadio combined for four saves on nine shots, with Skelton falling to 10-5 with the loss.
After a slow start to the contest, UMass Boston earned a 20-5 advantage in shots and a 5-1 edge in corner kicks.
Becher gave the visitors an early 1-0 lead at 19:16 of the first half. The speedy freshman chased after Brooks in the Beacons' 18-yard box and knocked it away from the Beacons' sure-footed center-back and blasted it by Perkins all in one motion, for an early lead.
Ledin evened the game at 1-1 at 33:39 thanks to her second penalty kick goal of the year. The senior had a two-on-one with Garufi to her left, but she was tripped up by Eastern Connecticut State's Whitney Mantel. Ledin promptly stepped to the penalty mark and coolly struck her shot just inside the far post for a 1-1 tie.
Brooks made amends for her earlier mistake at 38:54, when she headed home Pugliese's corner kick for a 2-1 lead. Pugliese blasted a bending ball towards the back post, where Brooks rose up between two defenders to ram it home.
The Beacons came out of halftime red-hot, as they put the game out of reach in the opening 10 minutes of the second stanza.
Peters made the hustle play of the day, when she chased down a throw-in that looked destined to go over the goal line, and sent a perfect left-footed cross into Kelly, who sent a glancing shot past Skelton to make it 3-1 at 47:30.
UMass Boston put the game out of reach at 54:44, when three Beacons' seniors combined for goal number four. Garufi found Ledin with a through ball and Ledin's cross went all the way across the box for Pugliese, who chipped in a high shot just inside the near post at 54:44.
Ledin put the finishing touches on the victory for UMass Boston in the 69th minute, off a perfectly-timed pass from Kelly. The freshman sent a bouncing pass to Ledin in the box and Ledin chased it down and slid it past Kennedy with her first touch, for a 5-1 advantage.
Shannon cut the deficit to 5-2 with 3:55 to play, when Taylor Ross unselfishly fed a charging Shannon, who blasted it by Brooks from 17-yards out, with Perkins well off of her line.
UMass Boston had several changes to their lineup, with junior Sam Bendick (New Egypt, N.J.) making her first career start at center back and freshman Cassandra Levesque (Metheun, Mass.) recording her first career start. The Beacons' back line kept the pressure off of Perkins for the entire contest, with the Warriors second goal coming after UMass Boston had subbed out the majority of their starters.
