Women's Soccer Cruises at Wheelock

BOSTON – Freshman forward Maariyah Lombardo netted four goals to lead the Mitchell College women's soccer team over host Wheelock College, 9-1, Saturday afternoon in a New England Collegiate Conference match at Winsor Field.

The Mariners improved to 6-4-2 overall and 4-1-2 in league play, while the Wildcats fell to 1-11 and 1-6. The nine goals by Mitchell were a season high and matched the total from its previous seven games combined.

Senior Angie Smith also had a career day for the Mariners, scoring three goals while adding three assists. After Mitchell yielded a goal just 5:12 into the match, Smith answered right back less than a minute later to tie the game at 1-1.

Lombardo netted Mitchell's second and third goals of the day – assisted on each by Smith – for a 3-1 lead with 28:34 to go in the first half. Lombardo's third goal came with 11:34 left in the match to give the visitors a 7-1 advantage, and her final tally and team-leading 10th of the season came with just 2:41 to go.

Wheelock got on the board first when Adriana Perry celebrated the team's senior day with her first goal of the season on a shot she lofted from right sideline just over the Mitchell keeper.

In addition to scoring the game-tying goal, Smith tallied the final Mitchell goal of the half with 4:30 remaining and the first goal of the second stanza at 54:47. She also assisted on the Mariners' next tally when she fed senior midfielder Shannen Pelletier at 62:10 for a 6-1 cushion. The helper gave her nine points on the afternoon, the most by a Mitchell player in a single game all season. The three goals also marked the first hat trick of her career.

Junior forward Amanda Hernandez picked up Mitchell's other goal at 83:32 for an 8-1 lead with her first marker of the campaign.

The Mariners kept the pressure on the Wildcats all afternoon with a 43-12 shot advantage. Sophomore keeper Kaylee Woodford earned the victory with eight saves for Mitchell, while Alexandra Chiesa stopped 13 of 19 shots in 73:25 of action for Wheelock. Sarah McCaffrey also saw time in goal and turned away two of five shots in the final 16:35 in net for the home team.

Mitchell will next host Bay Path College on Tuesday, October 25 at 3:30 p.m.