Elms beats Lesley for women’s soccer title |
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CAMBRIDGE — Lesley University (14-3-1) came up short in its quest for a New England Collegiate Conference Championship (NECC), falling 1-0 to No. 3 seed Elms College (10-5-4), as the Blazers punched their ticket to the NCAA Tournament by knocking out the NECC’s top seed on its home turf.
The victory marks Elms’ second NECC Championship, with the Blazers winning the league’s first title game over Lesley, 1-1 in penalty kicks in 2008.
Elms midfielder Gianna Gorneault, a Cathedral High School graduate from Springfield, was named 2011 NECC Tournament Most Valuable Player after assisting on the game’s only goal. The sophomore scored three goals in the team’s previous two tournament wins.
Fellow sophomore Victoria Cebula of Granby followed up a Gorneault miss with the game-winning goal in the 42nd minute, and the Lesley’s league-leading offense couldn’t land the equalizer in the period-plus that followed.
The first 15 minutes went quietly, with each team earning one shot, each on goal and saved by the opposing keeper. Things opened up in the minutes to come, with the Lynx getting off five shots and the Blazers sending a pair of tries at Lesley goalkeeper Emileigh Lloyd.
The Blazers continued to pepper Lloyd and would break through first. At 41:27, Gorneault lobbed a shot at the opposite post, driving Lloyd to her left in knocking it down. Cebula, inserted off the bench two minutes prior, followed up Gorneault’s miss inside the right post at 41:28.
Though both teams got off six shots, with Lesley putting five on net and Blazers keeper Kelly Callahan saving all five, it was the No. 3 seed that went into intermission with the 1-0 lead.
The Lynx outshot Elms 8-3 in the second half, and Elms earned the period’s only two corner kicks, but neither team found quality scoring opportunities in the frame. In spite of outshooting the Blazers 14-9 on the day, when the final horn sounded, Lesley found itself on the losing end of the league title game on its home field for a second year in a row.
An All-Tournament Team goalkeeper, Callahan gathered a match-high eight saves for the Blazers, while Lloyd tallied four saves for the Lynx.
In addition to Gorneault and Callahan, Briana Valente of Springfield and Ashley Venancio of Ludlow earned a spot on the NECC All-Tournament Team.
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