CHICOPEE, Mass. – Elms College senior midfielder Christina Goodchild (East Longmeadow, Mass.) scored what stood as the game-winning goal as the Blazers outlasted a late rally by Regis College to preserve a 2-1 victory in Saturday afternoon's New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) women's soccer game at Leary Field.

Regis moves to 2-3-1, 0-1-0 in conference play with the loss, while Elms improves to 2-3-1 on the season, 1-0-0 in NECC action with the win. 

In a tightly contested game, Elms drew first blood 19 minutes before intermission when sophomore midfielder Lyndsey Oppenheimer (Easthampton, Mass.) scored with a shot in the bottom right corner of the net following a pass from sophomore midfielder Michelle Rossignol (Manchester, Conn.) to give the Blazers a 1-0 cushion.

Elms outshot Regis 7-3 in the first half. Elms' junior net-minder Erika Aponte (Palmer, Mass.) turned away all three Pride shots on target, while Regis's Rachel Gagnon (Ashford, Conn.) made four saves in the first stanza.

In the second half, Elms added to its lead when sophomore midfielder Melissa Welch (Westfield, Mass.) lined up a corner kick and delivered a pass to Goodchild, who headed the ball past the keeper to lift the Blazers' lead to 2-0 in the 53rd minute of play.

With just under 10 minutes to play, Regis cut the deficit in half on a Jackie Rocheville (Salem, Mass.) free kick from 40-yards out that curled into the top left corner of the net to set the score at 2-1. However, the Pride could not net the equalizer as Elms pulled away to a hard-fought 2-1 victory.

Jasmin Vivar (Attleboro, Mass.) collected two shots on goal for Regis in the losing effort.

Gagnon finished with 10 saves including six in the second half, while Aponte totaled five saves for the Blazers. 

Regis will return to action on Tuesday, Sept. 24 when they travel to St. Joseph's (Conn.) for a 4:00 p.m. non-conference game.

Release courtesy of Elms Sports Information