WSOC: Lasers drop first GNAC game on late Falcons goal

WSOC: Lasers drop first GNAC game on late Falcons goal

Newton, Mass. – A late free kick saw the Lasell University Lasers women's soccer team drop their first Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) game, 3-2, to Albertus Magnus College Wednesday at Taylor Field.

The Lasers fall to 6-3 overall and 6-1 in the GNAC while Albertus improves to 6-4 overall and 4-3 in the GNAC.

This marks the first time Lasell has lost to Albertus since joining the GNAC in 2007. Over that time, they had a 12-0-2 record before tonight's result.

The Falcons got the game rolling in the 24th minute following a corner taken by junior Keegan Riccio (West Haven, Conn.), Riccio's corner found the head of senior Haley Andrews (Prospect, Conn.) who directed it through some bodies for the goal. Lasell answered in the 37th minute when senior Serena Speight (Biddeford, Maine) dribbled to her right around three defenders and with her right foot took a shot back to the left which found its way past the keeper and into the left-hand corner.

It was until the 72nd minute before the Falcons regained the lead, following another corner taken by Riccio she fired the ball from the right corner towards the far post finding the head of junior Bridget Rosikiewicz (Naugatuck, Conn.) for the goal. It only took another four minutes before the Lasers answered back. Freshman Julia Vaillancourt (Danvers, Mass.) booted the ball forward and over the heads of the Falcon defense for fellow classmate Alyssa DeOliveira (East Providence, R.I.) to run onto it and calmly put it in the bottom left corner.

After recording two assists on the day Riccio got herself in the goal column. With less than three minutes to go Riccio stood over a free kick on the outside of the 18-yard box and fired a shot over the head of the goalkeeper, hitting the underside of the bar and crossing the line for the winner.

In the loss the Lasers had the big advantage in shots, 32-6, and corner kicks, 11-3. Sophmore goalie Michelle Mecca (Greenwood Lake, N.Y.) made 11 saves in the win.

The Lasers will be back in action on Saturday, October 9, for a GNAC matchup against Elms College at Taylor Field. The game is scheduled to kickoff at 3:00 p.m.