By DAVID McLAUGHLIN
Correspondent, Kennebec Journal

FARMINGTON -- St. Joseph's College battled back to score three second-half goals and erase a halftime deficit to take a 3-1 women's soccer win over the University of Maine at Farmington on Sunday at Prescott Field.

Lawrence High School graduate Katye Mayo, a sophomore at St. Joe's, returned to the field this season following ACL surgery and played a key role for the Lady Monks in goal.

"We are playing the flat back four this season for the first time and we are doing very well with it," Mayo said of the Monks, who are 3-0-0. "We have some very strong defenders who never let down after they scored."

UMF (0-1-0) took a 1-0 lead in the 30th minute when Maranacook Community School graduate Jackie Mrazik hit a high swerving free kick from 28 yards that nestled into the top left side of the net.

Playing in a constant drizzle, it appeared the lone goal would be enough as the two teams battled in the middle of the field with defenders able to keep offensive attacks under control. St. Joe's finally broke through in the 69th minute to knot the game 1-1, however. Whitney Linindoll slid a short pass to Brianna Jordan in the penalty area where she hit a ground ball past UMF netminder Melissa Demerchant for the game-tying goal.

"This was a huge win for us," St. Joe's coach Michael Bolanz said. "To battle back after being down 1-0 shows the kind of effort we gave in the second half."

Anna Willis put the Monks ahead for good eight minutes later. Willis cut the ball to the right, leaving a wide-open look at the net. She drove the ball into the lower left side for a 2-1 lead.

"This was a tough game for us to open with," UMF coach Bob Leib said. "We need to possess the ball a little bit better and we can be a very good team."

Led by the strong senior defensive leadership of Allison Walton and Jillian Leger along with sophomores Lauren Hagerman and Jennifer Crisp, the Monks were able to withstand a late surge by the Beavers.

Mayo finished the game recording just one save on four UMF shots, while Demerchant collected four saves on 10 St. Joe's shots.

Katie Jordan added an insurance goal in the final minute of the game off a pass from Leger.