Women’s Soccer Draws with Wheaton in Season Opener

NORTON, Mass. – The Worcester State University women’s soccer team opened up the 2017 campaign with a 2-2 draw with Wheaton Friday afternoon at Mirrione Stadium.

Worcester St.

0-0-1

Wheaton (Mass.)

0-0-1

Final	1	2	OT	OT2	T
Worcester St. (0-0-1)	1	1	0	0	2
Wheaton (Mass.) (0-0-1)	1	1	0	0	2

Women’s Soccer Draws with Wheaton in Season Opener

September 1, 2017

Scoring Summary

1st - 1:05 - Talia Borci (Worcester St.)

1st - 33:43 - Hannah Lepordo (Wheaton (Mass.))

2nd - 45:54 - Megan Healy (Wheaton (Mass.))

2nd - 86:19 - Ashleigh Howland (Worcester St.)

Game Leaders

Worcester St.

G: 2 Players (#21, #25) - 1

A: N/A

Sh: Kaitlin Beluzo - 3

Sv: Jill Zinkus - 8

Wheaton (Mass.)

G: 2 Players (#4, #25) - 1

A: N/A

Sh: Hannah Lepordo - 11

Sv: Leann Wolf - 3

Team Stats

Game Statistics	Worcester St.	Wheaton (Mass.)
Shots (on goal)	9 (7)	35 (10)
Saves	8	5
Fouls	21	9
Corner Kicks	1	7
Offsides	2	2

Full stats

NORTON, Mass. – The Worcester State University women's soccer team opened up the 2017 campaign with a 2-2 draw with Wheaton Friday afternoon at Mirrione Stadium.

THE BASICS

September 1, 2017

Mirrione Stadium

Score: Worcester State 2, Wheaton 2 (2OT)

Records: Worcester State (0-0-1) | Wheaton (0-0-1)

1^st HALF

Worcester State's rookie forward Talia Borci (Leicester, Mass.) put the Lancers ahead early on a tally just 1:05 into the game as a bad clear by the Wheaton defense resulted in a clear shot for Borci.

Following the Lancers' first goal, Wheaton marked up five consecutive shots, but were unable to push one through Worcester's freshman goaltender, Jill Zinkus (Grafton, Mass.). The second goal of the contest wasn't scored until the 34^th minute when Wheaton's Hannah Lepordo (Sudbury, Mass.) knotted the game at 1-1 on a strike from the top of the goalie's box.

2^nd HALF

Megan Healy (Huntington, N.Y.) put the Lyons ahead for the first time just 54 seconds into the second stanza. Wheaton held the 2-1 advantage over the Lancers for the majority of the second half until in the 87^th minute when Worcester State senior forward, Ashleigh Howland (Wilmington, Mass.) sliced one into the back of the net following a pass from teammate Megan Gurlitz (Auburn, Mass.). The next three minutes were scoreless which led into the overtime.

OVERTIME

In the first overtime, Wheaton and Worcester State went hand-in-hand with shots, each picking up two apiece. In the double overtime, Wheaton's Healy and Lepardo were able to get a shot off, however one was block and one was saved to decide on the 2-2 draw.

BY THE NUMBERS

The Lancers' Kaitlin Beluzo (E. Longmeadow, Mass.) chalked up a game-high three shots on net.
Worcester State's rookie goalie, Zinkus, played the entire 110 minutes and registered eight saves for a .800 save percentage.
Wheaton saw two goalies in net, as Alexa Barbagallo (Bridgewater, N.J.) played the first 45 minutes, and Leann Wolf (Santa Maria, Calif.) went in for the remainder of the game.
Despite the tie, Wheaton outshot the Lancers by a 35-9 margin. However, Worcester State registered a 77.8% on goal percentage while the Lyons' shot on goal percentage was 28.6%.
Worcester State committed 21 fouls throughout the contest and allotted Wheaton seven corner kicks.
Worcester State is 1-9-2 all-time against Wheaton, dating the series back to 1998.
The last meeting between the two teams was last season when they Lyons shutout the Lancers 1-0.

UP NEXT

Worcester State is on the road for the next two games (MIT and Salve Regina) before opening at home on Saturday, Sep. 9 when they host Clark University at 12 noon.