Women's Soccer Earns Tie at Newbury

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. - The Newbury College women's soccer team battled Mitchell College to a 4-4 tie in the second game of Sunday afternoon's men's/women's doubleheader.

It was a game of two halves. A combined six goals were scored between the Nighthawks (4-6-2 overall, 2-1-1 NECC) and Mariners (5-6-1 overall, 3-0-1 NECC) in the first period while the second half was all defense aside from two Mitchell goals.

After Mitchell junior Leslie Briggs opened the contest with a quick score 34 seconds in, the Nighthawks responded with three unanswered goals to take the 3-1 lead. Briana Tomaselli tied up the match at one with a breakaway goal from Maria Salamone in the seventh minute. Two minutes later, Tomaselli gave Newbury the lead on a breakaway up the middle from forward Rachel Wyszynski. Ashley Greene-Allen scored the Nighthawks third consecutive goal on a long give-and-go chip shot to the right corner of the net in the 16th minute.

Briggs closed the deficit to one, scoring her second goal of the game on a right side breakaway created by junior Nikki Hoxie in the 29th minute. But Jessica Graus pushed the lead back to two as she put the ball in the back of the net of a penalty kick with 10 minutes left in the half.

Momentum shifted over to Mitchell in the second half. The Mariners scored twice and outshot the Nighthawks 13-1 in the stanza. In the 74th minute, Hoxie beat the Newbury defense to cut the deficit to one. It remained a one-goal game until under two minutes left when sophomore Lauren Fritsch forced overtime with a long shot from the left side on a pass from Hoxie. 

Mitchell returns to action against Lesley University on Tuesday, October 19 at 4 p.m. The game will be a rematch of last season's NECC Championship final, which the Lynx won by a 3-1 margin.