NEWTON, MA- Jessica Taylor (Standish, ME) scored a hat trick as the Lasell College women's soccer team trumped Emerson College, 5-0, on the first day of Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) competition for the 2011 season. The win marks the first of the season for the Lasers who bump their overall record to 1-2 and conference slate to 1-0. The Lions are without a win yet in the early part of the season, falling to 0-3 and 0-1 in GNAC play.
Lasell set the tone of the game from the onset and never let up, dictating the flow of the game throughout. The hosts only allowed one shot by the Lions all day, while firing off 38 of their own through the 90 minute contest. All three of Lasell's goalkeepers, Elizabeth Stickley (Mashpee, MA), Amy DelloRusso (Plymouth, MA), and Leah Pappalardo (Whitman, MA) shared time in net in the shutout victory, with the win being awarded to Stickley as the starting netminder.
From the start, Lasell maintained control of the ball, getting off 12 shots through the ten minute mark, though only two of those were on target. It took Emerson over ten minutes to get their first possession of the match but they were unable to capitalize on the play.
Lasell's first break came at 12:03 when Jamie Harris (Lynnfield, MA) launched a bullet from 10 yards out which cracked off the crossbar and bounced back into play. Taylor was able to put back the reflected shot past Emerson goalkeeper Alexandra Altman for the game-winning goal.
Just two minutes later, Lasell's Meredith Hessler (Middletown, RI) fired off a great shot from the right wing which almost gave Lasell a 2-0 edge, however, Lion defender Amber Bigwood (Chepachet, RI) came up with a big block just before the ball crossed the goal line to fend off the second mark.
Altman stayed consistently busy through the following minutes as the Lasers did not let up on the pressure. After almost 30 minutes without another tally, Lasell notched their second goal, at 40:56, when Liz McGeoy (Doylestown, PA) carried the ball down the left side line and crossed it to a sprinting Sam Peck (Woodbury, CT) who was cutting down the middle of the field. Peck toed the ball over the head of Altman for the 2-0 lead which held into the intermission.
Taylor completed her hat trick with back-to-back goals just one minute apart to start the second half. Lasell's third goal, and Taylor's second, came on a connection from Bridget Lynch (Dover, NH) just five minutes into the frame. At 51:49, Taylor finished her trio of goals when she returned a deflected save from Altman. Altman had made two impressive saves off balls from Harris in consecutive plays prior to the score.
Emerson's first shot was made at 59:55 when Meghan Foehl (Cheshire, CT) unleashed a shot from the right side, just inside the eighteen. DelloRusso, who had relieved Stickley after a quick stint into the second period, jumped to make the save on the high shot and preserve the shutout.
With six minutes left to play in the GNAC stint, Melissa Leonard (North Brookfield, MA) set up the final goal by faking out a defender and dumping a pass to freshman Kaley Kiss (Meriden, CT) for her first collegiate goal.
Altman finished the complete game with five saves while DelloRusso stopped the only Emerson attack in her collegiate debut.
Lasell returns to league action for a night game on the road this coming Wednesday, September 14th at 7:00 p.m. at Rivier College.
