BOSTON, Mass. – In their 2021 Little East Conference opener, junior forward Kaylee Haynes lifted women's soccer to a 2-1 victory over Eastern Connecticut State University Saturday afternoon at Rick McCarthy Field.

THE BASICS

UMass Boston 2, Eastern Connecticut State University 1

UMass Boston (5-0-1, 1-0 Little East Conference)
Eastern CT State (2-2-0, 0-1 Little East Conference)

HOW IT HAPPENED

Haynes competed the comeback for the Beacons by scoring her second and third goals of the week in a five minute span. Haynes would respond to the Warriors' goal with a goal of her own in the 75th minute on a bouncing ball that found the middle of the offensive zone. Haynes would fire a dribbler just out of the reach for Alexis Tyrell for her third goal of the season to knot the game back up at one.

The Beacons would earn the game-deciding goal in the 80th minute of play when Morgan Palma (Halifax, Mass.) found junior back Ailaina Keely (Biddeford, Maine) for a pass on the left side of the field.

Keeley would cross the pass over to a streaking Haynes on the right side of the field and the junior forward would tap it off her heel into the left side of the goal to give the Beacons the lead. The Warriors would have a chance to tie in the final moments of regulation when Ashlyn Rogers shot her free kick on goal but it was picked up by Maria Spylios (Leominster, Mass.) to give UMass-Boston the 2-1 win.

The Beacons got off to a quick start, but Tyrell showed she was up for the challenge. In the 2nd minute of play, senior midfielder Allie Crawford (Kingston, Mass.) knocked a corner kick into the middle of the box which found senior forward Grace McGettrick (Marshfield, Mass.) who had her header swallowed up by Tyrell in net.

The 8th minute would bring about UMass Boston's best chance to score of the half when a bouncing ball would find the foot of Crawford who passed it up to junior Haynes with two Eastern defenders to beat. Haynes would outrun both Warrior players with only Tyrell to beat before her chip shot over the senior goalkeeper went wide to the left of the goal.

Eastern would have their first opportunity to score in the 10th minute when Haley Montesanto found Sierra DeCarli a few feet outside the box. DeCarli's shot would sail high over the goal. Two minutes later, the Warriors would record their first shot on goal of the half on the free kick by sophomore defender Jillian Parenteau. Parenteau's ball took two hops into the box where it was deflected off the foot of Montesanto and gathered up by Spylios to keep the game scoreless.

In the latter stages of the first half, Crawford would produce two more scoring opportunities for the Beacons when her free kick was caught by a leaping Alexis Tyrell in net in which she was able to keep her feet in bounds to prevent UMass Boston from earning a corner kick.

Moments later, Crawford would receive a pass from senior forward Palma near three Warrior defenders before sending a shot wide right of the goal. The score would remain tied at zero heading into the half with the Warriors being outshot 8-3 and 3-1 in shots on goal.

Both teams would continue to battle back and forth to begin the second half with the Beacons again looking to draw first blood in the stalemate. Tyrell continued her impressive day in net, halting a breakaway attempt by senior back and UMass Boston's leading goal scorer Mary Jo Murphy (Worcester, Mass.) in the 57th minute to keep things even. Seconds later, a Warrior turnover in the defensive zone led to Haynes firing on Tyrell who made a diving save to prevent another Beacon chance to take the lead.

The first goal of the game would come in the 69th minute when Briley Harnois scored her first collegiate goal for the Warriors. Carlie Dreyfus found Harnois down the right side of the field before the Massachusetts native worked around a few Beacon defenders and fired the ball off Spylios's hands and into the back of the net to put the Warriors ahead 1-0. Two minutes later, Dreyfus would have a chance of her own to help extend the Warrior lead when her shot from the left side of the box curved high and wide of the goal mouth.

BY THE NUMBERS

• The Beacons have now won a program record four-straight over the Warriors with Saturday's victory
• UMass Boston extends their regular season unbeaten streak to 21-straight games dating back to September 14, 2019 (19-0-2)
• The Beacons outshot ECSU 19-6 (9-3 in shots on goal)
• The Beacons held a 6-0 advantage in corner kicks
• Spylios registered two saves in the win to improve to 5-0-1
• Spylios now sits with 20 wins in her career which is third-most in program history

WHO'S NEXT
The Beacons will travel to Wheaton College on Tuesday for a 4 p.m. non-conference game.