MAINE - The Lesley University women's soccer team had a bittersweet final visit to Maine last weekend, defeating Maine Maritime Academy for the first time in the program's history, 2-1, on Saturday, before suffering their first loss of the season on Sunday, falling, 7-1, to Husson College.
Barring a possible pairing in the postseason conference tournament, it was the last time that Lesley will likely ever visit Maine Maritime or Husson again, as the Lynx will leave the North Atlantic Conference and join the newly formed New England Collegiate Conference at the conclusion of the athletics season next spring.
Lesley is trying to make the most of its final campaign, as the Lynx are currently 9-1-1 overall and 3-1-1 in the NAC. Maine Maritime is 7-3 (3-2 NAC) and Husson is 6-4-1 (4-0).
"Overall it was a very succesful trip for the program. We beat a good Maine Maritime team which we never had beaten before. I think the grind of the weekend double header action got to us in the second match. That, combined with playing against a team that went to the NCAA's last year (Husson) didn't help. It just shows even though we are having a great season we still have a way to go," said Lesley head coach Paul Vasconcelos.
The Lynx wasted little time in taking the lead against Maine Maritime, pumping in two goals in the contest's opening 15 minutes. In the ninth minute, junior forward Lani Cabral-Pini (Wilmington, Mass.) put in a corner kick cross from sophomore defender Cathryn Folkestad (Ipswich, Mass.). Then, just five minutes later, sophomore forward Jodi Fralick (Woburn, Mass.) netted another goal for Lesley off a corner kick situation to give the Lynx a commanding 2-0 lead, which they did not concede, only allowing a goal in the 78th minute that didn't affect the outcome. Sophomore goalie Hailee Lowe (Hamilton, Mass.) finished with 10 saves to preserve the historic win.
The next day against Husson, though, wasn't so great for Lowe and the Lynx, as the Eagles took a 2-0 lead into halftime and simply began adding on goals until the final whistle blew with the scoreboard reading: 7-1. The lone highlight for Lesley came in the 60th minute when Fralick fed Cabral-Pini for a goal.
With 16 goals and four assists (36 points), Fralick - the NAC Rookie of the Year last year - leads the conference in scoring. Lesley teammate, freshman forward Lauren Mastellone (Howell, N.J.), is second with 11 goals and three assists (25 points). Fellow freshman Alyson Durben (Stow, Mass.) is also in the top 10 in the conference in scoring (14 points), along with Cabral-Pini (10 points).
The Lynx will look to begin a new unbeaten streak this upcoming weekend, when they host UMaine-Farmington on Saturday and Newbury College on Sunday. To find out more information about the Lesley University women's soccer team, please visit their website.