PHOTO COURTESY OF LISA BALAM
GORHAM, Maine – Sophomore Haley DaGraca (Saco, Maine) scored in the 22nd minute and junior Brooke Troup (East Bridgewater, Mass.) made eight saves to lead the Saint Joseph's College Monks to a 1-0 win over the University of Southern Maine Huskies in a non-conference women's soccer game Wednesday afternoon at Hannaford Field.
Suffering its second straight loss, Southern Maine drops to 3-4 overall. Saint Joseph's evens out its record at 4-4-1 with the win.
DaGraca scored her team-leading eighth goal of the season when she headed in a lofted cross off of the foot for junior Emily DeLuca (Gorham, Maine) for the game-winner. DeLuca earned her first assist of the season off of a set piece, lifting the ball off of a corner and finding DaGraca for the far post goal.
Troup made the Monks' one-goal advantage stand turning in a strong performance. Troup made four saves in each half, including a diving effort in the closing minutes of regulation off of the foot of Husky freshman Adela Kalilwa (Lewiston, Maine). Kalilwa nearly had the equalizer putting two moves on her defender to create some shooting space and striking the ball to the near post forcing Troup into action.
Husky sophomore Taylor Canastra (Fairhaven, Mass.) also turned in a strong performance for USM in the loss, making seven saves, including five in the second half. Canastra kept the Huskies within one goal of the Monks with several key saves, including a sliding stop in the 56th to deny DaGraca a one-on-one opportunity in the box.
With the win, Saint Joseph's improves to 11-16-1 all-time versus Southern Maine. Today's contest was the 13th decided by one goal in the history of the series between the Monks and Huskies.
Both teams resume play with home conference contests on Saturday, when Saint Joseph's faces off against Simmons College in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) matchup starting at 11:00 AM and Southern Maine takes on Keene State College in a 1:00 PM Little East Conference (LEC) contest.
THANKS IN LARGE PART TO USM SPORTS INFORMATION
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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 474-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.
