WESTON, Mass. – A goal in the 60th minute by freshman midfielder Courtney Major (Bayonne, N.J.) was enough for the Emerson College Lions to get past Regis College on Thursday afternoon in non-conference women's soccer action at Regis Stadium. The Pride fall to 2-5-1 (0-1-0 NECC) on the season with the loss.
The opening half saw each team have several high-quality scoring opportunities. Emerson (5-4-0, 0-1-0 NEWMAC) nearly got on the board about halfway through the first when sophomore Alyssa Giannone (Mountainside, N.J.) sent a ball into the box that skipped over to classmate Mollie Coyne (Hamilton, N.J.), but her one-timer sailed just over the net.
Two minutes later, Regis had a great look of their own. Junior Kristen Abreu (Woburn, Mass.) beat her defender and found herself in a breakaway situation. Goalkeeper Marissa MacDonald (Winchester, Mass.) came out of the net to challenge Abreu, who juked left for an open net shot. Just as she was about to strike the ball, a Lion defender caught up and poked the ball off of Abreu's feet.
A similar situation arose for Emerson with 17 minutes to play in the half, as Giannone found a wide-open Natalie Benjamin (Shrewsbury, Mass.) at the penalty spot marker. Just before Benjamin could release a shot, defender Shannon Simonelli (Providence, Mass.) came out of nowhere, stole the ball from Benjamin, and cleared the ball out of danger.
The Pride had arguably their best chance of day with the clock winding down in the opening half. Junior midfielder Jasmin Vivar (Attleboro, Mass.) lined up for a corner kick with seconds remaining and sent a great ball to the feet of Jackie Rocheville (Salem, Mass.). With two seconds to spare, Rocheville ripped a shot that was headed straight for the back of the net. Unfortunately for the Pride, an Emerson defender cleared the ball away on the goal-line and denied Regis from scoring.
After knocking on the door, the Lions finally capitalized at the 59:57 mark when Giannone sent a cross inside the box from the right flank that got to Major. Rachel Gagnon (Ashford, Conn.) came out to challenge the ball, but Major was able to shoot it past Gagnon, as it rolled in for what would be the only goal of the game.
Gagnon had a great performance in net for the Crimson & Gold, stopping ten shots during the game. On the other side, MacDonald made two saves for Emerson to preserve the shutout.
Both teams will return to conference play with home games on Saturday afternoon. The Lions host Mount Holyoke at 3:00 p.m., while the Pride welcome Bay Path for a 12:30 p.m. clash.