Late Goal Sinks Women's Soccer vs. UMass Dartmouth

NEW LONDON, Conn. – The UMass Dartmouth women's soccer team scored the game-winning goal in the 87th minute to hand Mitchell College a 3-2 defeat on Wednesday afternoon at Alumni Field.

Vanessa Demelo netted the go-ahead score with 2:50 remaining in regulation to put the Corsairs (6-4-0 overall) on top for good. She drilled a free kick from just outside the box on the left side, sending her shot around a two-player wall and to the near post. Mitchell goalkeeper Kaylee Woodford tried to punch it away, but the ball ended up in the back of the goal for Demelo's first tally of the season.

The game began with a scoring flurry, with four goals to be had in the opening 18 minutes of play. UMass Dartmouth took the initial lead in the 11th minute on a sequence that saw Danielle Gauvin and Maura Gonsalves connect with Erica Jonasson for a score. Jonasson took a pass to the right side of the box and scored her eighth goal of the season by chipping it into the far side netting.

Mitchell evened the game up less than two minutes later when senior Nikki Hoxie played a ball into the box that the UMD defense tried to clear away. The attempt ended up in the back of the Corsairs' net for an own goal and a 1-1 score.

UMass Dartmouth took the lead back 52 seconds later. The Corsairs had possession inside the Mitchell 18-yard box when a defender was whistled for a takedown. The resulting penalty kick was finished off by Gonsalves—her first goal of the season—to put UMD up 2-1.

The Mariners equalized again in the 18th minute when senior Angie Smith centered a ball into the box and found freshman Maariyah Lombardo at the far post. Lombardo finished off the pass with a header for her third goal in as many games.

The teams went into the halftime intermission tied at 2-2, and the game seemed destined for overtime until Demelo's late heroics. UMD held a 26-5 advantage in shots and put 17 on goal. Woodford finished with a season-high 14 saves while Krista Chauvin made two stops in goal for the Corsairs and earned her first victory of the season.

Mitchell returns to NECC play at Regis College on Saturday, October 1 at noon.