Women’s Soccer Blanked by Lesley, 3-0, in Season-Opener

QUINCY, Mass.- The Eastern Nazarene College women's soccer team suffered a 3-0 setback to Lesley Thursday evening under the lights at Veterans Memorial Stadium.

The Lions fall to 0-1-0 on the year while the Lynx improve to 1-0-0 overall.

The two teams headed into the halftime intermission knotted at 0-0.

The visitors registered 11 shots in the opening frame while the hosts mustered just two attempts. Lesley earned all three corner kicks awarded in the first 45 minutes of play.

Lesley got on the board in the 77th minute to seize a 1-0 lead. Samantha Bessey finished off a low pass from Jordan Mitchell for her first tally of the year.

The Lynx tacked on their second goal just seconds later as Karlie Rubin notched her first marker of the fall, firing a long-distance attempt into the right side of the cage.

The guests added a score in the 82nd minute to widen their advantage to 3-0. Mitchell slotted her first goal of the season into the lower left corner after a through-pass by Rachel Buckley.

Junior goalkeeper Anastasia Swift (Morrisville, Vt.) racked up 10 saves between the pipes and rookie Griselda Minchaca (Whittier, Calif.) made her collegiate debut in goal with 14 minutes of action. Lilly Donovan made four saves in net for Lesley to earn the clean sheet.

The Lions finished with five shots in the contest while the Lynx managed 20 on the night.

Katherine Lawrence (Marlborough, Conn.) and Kelly Couite (West Bridgewater, Mass.) paced the home side with two shots each.

"The team gave 100 percent out there tonight. Our defense played well for the majority of the game with help from an outstanding performance by Anastasia in goal. We had a few mental lapses tonight which lead to goals and we will work to clean them up," said first-year head coach Bob Meals.

Up next, Eastern Nazarene hits the road for a non-conference matchup at Suffolk September 3.