STANDISH, Maine – Saint Joseph's College (9-2, 6-2 GNAC) overcame an early 1-0 deficit to defeat UMaine-Farmington (2-10, 2-2 NAC), 4-2, in a non-conference women's soccer contest at the SJC Athletics Complex on Monday afternoon.
GREAT CAUSE
Earlier in the day the women's soccer program held a ceremony to officially welcome Brooklyn Cormier as an honorary member of the team. Brooklyn, the cousin of SJC junior Hailey Tarr (Eliot, Maine), is four years old and has Cerebral Palsy.
THE LEAD
UMaine-Farmington freshman Haley Fletcher (Monmouth, Maine) provided the visitors with the early lead with a goal at the 1:31 mark, but the Monks countered just over a minute later when senior Colleen Sheehan (Medway, Mass.) scored off a corner kick, a play that ignited a 4-0 run for the Monks. Senior Haley DaGraca (Saco, Maine) scored her first of two goals, and what proved to be the game-winner, in the sixth minute.
THE REST OF THE STORY
Fletcher's goal, scored on a play that originated with a turnover near midfield, came on a near breakaway as she found a seam between two SJC defenders in the box and lifted a shot to the top left corner for her second goal of the season.
Sheehan potted her third goal of the year on a corner kick off the foot of freshman Kayley Mattos (Mahopac, N.Y.), as the ball lofted from the left side made its way through traffic to the foot of the senior, who tapped a shot into the right side of the net.
DaGraca put the Monks on top for good with her 11th strike of the season, which came on a Beavers' defensive breakdown in the box as sophomore McKenzie Murphy (Kennebunk, Maine) toed a lead pass to her senior captain, who launched a shot to the top left corner to make it a 2-1 game.
Sophomore Brenna Smith (Maynard, Mass.) assisted on the next two SJC goals, as she set up classmate Kayla Gooch (Dracut, Mass.) at the 27:08 mark and DaGraca, for her second tally of the game, in the 61st minute.
UMaine-Farmington sophomore McKenna Brodeur (Oakland, Maine) cut the Beavers' deficit down to 4-2 with her eighth goal of the season in the 67th minute, but the Monks' defense held the visitors without a shot for the remainder of the contest.
THE KEEPERS
SJC freshman netminder Adia Grogan (Kennebunk, Maine) made one save to pick up her eighth win of the season while UMaine-Farmington utilized a pair of goalies in the setback, as junior Mikayla Cameron (Monmouth, Maine) took the loss with three saves in 53:40 minutes and sophomore Callie Hammer (Ellsworth, Maine) steered away five of the six shots she faced in 36:20 of relief.
TEAM STATS
Saint Joseph's held lopsided advantages in shots (25-6), shots on goal (13-4), and corner kicks (14-1) on the afternoon.
HISTORICALLY SPEAKING
Saint Joseph's is now 30-16-4 all-time versus UMaine-Farmington and, with a 3-0 win in Farmington last fall, has defeated the Beavers in consecutive meetings for the first time since 2013.
NEXT!
Saint Joseph's is set to host Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) rival Emmanuel College at 6:00 PM on Wednesday while UMaine-Farmington is back in action Saturday when they travel to Northern Vermont-Johnson for a 1:00 PM North Atlantic Conference (NAC) game.
