Oct. 6, 2010

Box Score

BOSTON, Mass. - The Emmanuel Women's Soccer Team shut out Simmons College, 4-0, in a Colleges of the Fenway neighborhood rivalry played on Roberto Clemente Field on Wednesday night. The Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) regular season game was a re-match of last season's GNAC Championship battle, which featured the Sharks upsetting the Saints, 2-1, in double overtime. Emmanuel revenged last season's heartbreaker by scoring four unanswered goals in the first half en route to the shutout victory.

The Saints got on the board early in the night, when senior midfielder Amber Di Nucci (Assonet, Mass.) notched her 3rd goal of the season. Di Nucci received a nice pass from sophomore Meghan Zerba (Cumberland, R.I.) and found the back of the net at 13:15. Di Nucci's marker would be the first of an incredible series of three Emmanuel goals in a minute and a half.

Freshman forward and this week's GNAC Women's Soccer Rookie of the Week Darcey Sullivan (Dalton, Mass.) got a pretty pass from Brittany Ridge (Portland, Me.), which she sent sailing into the net. Sullivan's goal, her 5th of the year, came at 14:36 and Emmanuel led, 2-0.

Just twelve quick seconds later, the Saints tacked on another marker, when Zerba and Di Nucci reversed their earlier play. Zerba's goal was her second of the season and came at 14:48.

Emmanuel carried the three-goal edge for the next twenty minutes, before tacking on yet another score. The Saints' fourth goal of the night came off a beautiful corner kick by Logan Carr (Saratoga Springs, N.Y.) and was netted by freshman Lindsey Garvey (Warwick, R.I.) at 34:35.

Emmanuel took the four-goal lead into the break at halftime. The second half was a scoreless one for both times, but featured the Saints out-shooting the Sharks, 4-1. The hosts out-shot the visitors, 15-3, on the night.

Emmanuel's sophomore goalkeeper Jessica D'Ottavio (Pawling, N.Y.) was flawless in net, stopping Simmons' one shot on goal and recording the 8th shut-out of her collegiate career.

Simmons' sophomore goalie Ashley Wheeler (Nashua, N.H.) started the night for the Sharks, making two saves in her 25 minutes played, before being forced to leave the contest with an injury. Classmate Ashley Donaghey (Framingham, Mass.) relieved Wheeler in net and tallied 4 stops for the Sharks.

This was the Saints' second consecutive GNAC win and their first shutout of the season. Emmanuel now stands at 5-8 on the season and 3-4 in GNAC play. The loss dropped the Sharks to 4-7-1 overall and Simmons is also 3-4 in conference play.

Emmanuel will play again at home on Saturday (10/9), when the Saints host the Raiders of Rivier College in a noontime start. This will be the opening game of a Saturday GNAC women's and men's soccer double-header.