Worcester takes on WPI in Home Opener in Tight Loss

Worcester, MA- The Worcester State Women's Soccer team hosted their home opener Friday night after starting the first week facing stiff competition on the road. The Lancers welcomed the Engineers to Coughlin Field for battle under the lights. Worcester was looking for their first win of the season, and a strong showing in the fan base was primed to help them achieve the objective.

WPI started strong in the first half controlling the pace of play for the first 13 minutes of the game. The Lancers were on the defensive early stopping six attempts by the Engineers to get an early goal on the board. Worcester State was able to rocket off their first attempt at the 14' minute mark with a strong opportunity by junior Abigale Berriault (Wareham, MA) but it was snagged by WPI goalkeeper Kelsey Leach to keep the game scoreless. Worcester State had three more golden opportunities in the middle of the half with attempts by sophomore Michaela O'Brien (Bedford, MA) and junior Hayley Samara (Worcester, MA) but the WPI defense kept the pressure high and came away from the threat with a zero still on the scoreboard. WPI had a late flurry of attempts to close out the half but behind first year Mallory Dupuis' (Leominster, MA) seven saves in the half the Engineers were unable to get anything to hit the net by the close of the first.

Worcester came storming into the second half with two quick attempts in the opening minutes by Samara and senior Haley Mignon (Tewksbury, MA) that each just went off the cage. Worcester kept the attack pressure on through the first seven minutes with an additional attempt by sophomore Michaela O'Brien (Bedford, MA) but Leach again came up for the save. WPI saw their first attacking action of the half with a number of from just at the edge of the box sailing wide of the cage. The game moved back and forth down the field until the 67' minute when WPI's Molly Vincent connected with a pass from Hannah Wolfgang that saw the ball pop deep over the head of Dupuis to give WPI the lead at 1-0. Neither team backed down for the remainder of the game with each team having some golden opportunities to put a goal on the board but the defense was strong on both sides, with neither team able to add to the tally.

Dupuis was a wall on defense with 10 saves on the night and some gymnastic movement in the cage to shut down the WPI offense. The defense core was a solid unit allowing only one goal on the 35 attempts by WPI on the night. WPI's Leach had five saves on the night on Worcester's 11 shots. O'Brien led the team with four shots on the night along with teammates Mignon, Samara senior Hailey Skowronski (Douglas, MA) with two.

WPI sits at 3-1 at the conclusion of the game while the Lancers move to 0-3. They are back on the road for their next game, taking on Gordon College next Tuesday September 13 at 7pm.