Golden Bears use Late Tally to Defeat Women's Soccer

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – A goal with 42 seconds remaining lifted the Western New England University women's soccer team to a 1-0 win over Wentworth Institute of Technology in Conference of New England play Saturday afternoon.

With the win, the Golden Bears, presently ranked sixth in the United Soccer Coaches Region II Poll, improve to 7-2-5 overall and 2-1-1 in CNE play. The Leopards see their record slip to 4-5-4 (1-2-1).

HOW IT HAPPENED:

• Early in the first half, Wentworth New England had a corner kick that led to a blocked shot. The block went out of bounds, giving the Golden Bears their second corner kick in a 40-second span. After a shot off that set piece was also blocked, Wentworth cleared the ball out.
• Western New England put three shots on net in a span of 1:22, including one off a corner kick play, however, Shyla Kulesza stepped up and made three saves to keep the game scoreless.
• In the 14th minute, Megan Barilone put a shot to the upper center of the net that was saved by Brianna Carroll, and, 28 seconds later, Rachel Hagerty fired a low shot that Carroll saved.
• The Leopards had a chance late in the half when Maria Selman took a shot that Carroll came up with the save on.
• In the 54th minute, Western New England had a shot that was blocked off a corner kick. On the rebound, the second-chance attempt went high, keeping the game scoreless.
• Bryce Bateman had a pair of shots blocked in the 72nd minute and two minutes later Emily Hagen's bid went just high. With just over 14 minutes left, Jordan Dahan had a shot that was saved by Molly McLaughlin.
• Kulesza made three saves in a six-minute span, including two coming within 65 seconds of each other late in the contest.
• Off a throw in, the ball eventually found Isabella Montalvo on the right side. Making a move on a defender, Montalvo beat Kulesza inside the right post at the 89:18 mark.
• Kulesza made 10 saves, marking the third time this season she had made 10 or more stops. Western New England had a 27-11 shot advantage and a 12-1 edge on corner kicks.

ALL-TIME SERIES:

• Today was the 20th all-time meeting between the two teams.

NEXT UP:

• Wentworth returns home for a CNE matchup against the University of New England on Tuesday night.

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