Oct. 7, 2011

Box Score

BOSTON, MASS. - Sophomore midfielder Kristyn Heuslein (Manchester, N.H.) netted two goals, one in each half, to lift the Simmons College women's soccer team past Emmanuel College, 2-0, Friday evening at Winsor Field. With the victory the Sharks improve to 4-7-1 on the year and 4-4-1 in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference while the loss drops the Saints to 8-4-1 overall and 4-4-1 in GNAC play.

After 25 minutes of scoreless soccer, Heuslein gave the Sharks a 1-0 lead with her third goal of the season off of a free kick at the 25:47 marker of the first half.

Early in the second half, the Saints were able to get several offensive looks to even the contest but they were all denied by senior goalkeeper Ashley Wheeler (Nashua, N.H.). The best shot to tie the game came just over 15 minutes into the second stanza when junior midfielder Brittany Ridge (Portland, Maine) one-timed a comebacker from about 30 yards out that hit the crossbar and deflected out of bounds.

Heuslein would increase the Sharks lead to 2-0 with her second goal of the contest at the 63:29 mark when she converted a free-kick from 25-yards out. The sophomore hit a solid strike towards the upper-90 of the Saints goal that just dipped under the crossbar and into the side netting, giving Simmons an insurance goal with 26:31 remaining in regulation.

Despite their efforts, Emmanuel was unable to find the back of the net for just the third time this season as Wheeler notched her third shutout of the year making 11 saves while junior keeper Jessica D'Ottavio (Pawling, N.Y.) recorded 20 saves for the Saints. The 20 saves for D'Ottavio is a new career-high and the most by an Emmanuel keeper since Kanee Chlebda made 21 save against Wentworth on Sept. 4, 2003.

Emmanuel will return to action on Monday, October 11 when they head across town to face Emerson College in a GNAC contest starting at 1:00 p.m. at Rotch Playground while Simmons is now idle until Tuesday, October 12 when they square off against Suffolk in another GNAC showdown.