PORTLAND, Maine – Senior forward Bridget Lynch (Dover, N.H.) scored with just 43 seconds remaining to lift Lasell College (12-4-0, 10-0-0 GNAC) to a 2-1 victory over Saint Joseph's College (8-8-1, 5-4-1 GNAC) in unsavory weather conditions at Deering Memorial Stadium on Wednesday evening.
After taking a forward pass from her sister Kayla, Lynch beat a Saint Joseph's defender, sprinted into the right side of the box, and sent a chip shot over the head of Monks' keeper Brooke Troup (East Bridgewater, Mass.) - who left her line to challenge – into the left corner of the net for the game winner.
The Lasers opened the game scoring in the 28th minute when sophomore Devon Day (Hartford, Vt.) potted her second goal of the season on what could be described as an unlucky bounce for the Monks. Dribbling to the end line on the left, Day played a ball into the six-yard box that deflected off an SJC defender and into the net, pushing the Lasers – who have now won eight-consecutive games - to a 1-0 lead with 17:29 left in the first half.
The slim margin remained until the 71st minute when Saint Joseph's senior Kim Jordan (Bangor, Maine) lofted a volley - from about 25 yards out – that bounced near the top of the six-yard and over the head of Lasell netminder Sarah LeClair (Belchertown, Mass.) and into the back of the net.
Despite the loss, Troup notched one of her best performances of the season with several outstanding saves among the seven she stopped in the setback. The freshman keeper made a pair of acrobatic saves to preserve the deadlock in the final 10 minutes of play, including a diving stop to her right in a 1v1 situation with Bridget Lynch at the 83-minute mark and leaping jab to the left on a bid by sophomore Erin Smith (Gorham, Maine) with 1:41 on the clock.
LeClair also played well for the visitors and made five saves to improve to 10-2-0 on the season.
Overall, the Lasers owned leads in shots (15-10) and corner kicks (4-3) on the evening. With the loss, Saint Joseph's falls to 5-4-2 in the history of the series with Lasell, a program that has captured the last four GNAC Championships and has not suffered a loss versus a conference opponent in over two years.
Both teams wrap up GNAC play this Saturday when Saint Joseph's hosts Emmanuel College at 2:30 PM and Lasell travels to Norwich University for a 1:00 PM kick-off. The Monks will honor the program's seven seniors with a brief on-field ceremony prior to the start of Saturday's contest.
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Saint Joseph's College is Maine's only Catholic liberal arts college, providing a supportive, personalized and career-focused education for more than 100 years. From its 430-acre campus on the shores of Sebago Lake, the College offers more than 40 undergraduate programs to a population of approximately 1,000 students. Saint Joseph's College Online provides certificates, undergraduate and advanced degrees for working adults through an online learning program. For more, visit www.sjcme.edu.
