WESTON, Mass. - Regis College picked up right where it left off Tuesday night, jumping on the board less than 10 minutes into the match and then continuing to pressure the Elms College defense, as the Pride defeated the Blazers, 6-0, Thursday night in the first round of the 2024 Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Women's Soccer Tournament at Regis Stadium.
With the victory, the eighth seeded Pride advance to the quarterfinals where they will face top seed Johnson and Wales Saturday, Nov. 2, in Providence, R.I., starting at 6 p.m. In the teams' regular season meeting Oct. 19, Regis held the Wildcats scoreless in a 0-0 draw, snapping JWU's 59-match GNAC winning streak that dated back over three years.
For the second straight match, Elms nearly scored first, but Emily Basua's shot in the sixth minute hit the crossbar and bounced away. After a shot by Caroline Wilcox sailed to the right, Regis went on the counterattack, creating a scoring chance for Brynn Foster (Londonderry, N.H.) that was stopped by Elms goalie Mackenzie Quick.
In the 10th minute, Sienna Santiago's (Brewster, N.Y.) found the foot of Avary Hall (Bloomfield Hills, Mich.), who converted the shot for her first goal of the evening. Santiago earned three solid chances over the next 20 minutes to extend the Pride advantage, but Quick was able to turn all of them away.
Hall collected another crossing pass in the 36th minute, this time from Colleen Curran (Woburn, Mass.), and scored her 19th goal of the season, tying the Regis career goals record with her 27th career goal. After two more of her shots were stopped by Quick, Santiago finally converted her ninth goal of the season in the 42nd minute, with Janet Amasa-Titus (Georgetown, Mass.) picking up the assist.
Amasa-Titus would score twice in the span of six minutes in the second half, with Delaney Scanlon (Dracut, Mass.) assisting on the second tally. The Pride would complete the scoring in the 86th minute as Maya DiMino's (Billerica, Mass.) shot was stopped by Blazer goalie Hailey Magierowski, but Meadow Comeiro (Woburn, Mass.) converted the rebound for her first goal of the season.
Cassidy Van Cott (Santa Monica, Calif.) made two saves in close to 77 minutes of action before Daniela Mazo (Bridgeport, Conn.) came in for the final 13 minutes, picking up a save of her own. Quick collected nine saves in 73 minutes before being relieved by Magierowski.
Regis (10-7-4) earned its first victory in the GNAC Women's Soccer Tournament since joining the league in 2017. Elms sees its season conclude with an 8-10-2 overall record.