CHICOPEE, Mass. – The Lesley University women's soccer team saw their 61 match regular season conference unbeaten streak come to an end today as Elms College used a first half goal to top the Lynx 1-0 at Timothy J. Leary Field. Lesley's streak stretched all the way back to October 25, 2008 where they fell to Elms, also by a 1-0 score. The two sides are no strangers in rivalry as the Lynx have defeated the Blazers in each of the last three New England Collegiate Conference Championship matches.
Elms junior Mackenzie LaRochelle (Chicopee, Mass.) netted the only goal of the game in the 18th minute of play off a feed from classmate Brie Voight (Springfield, Mass.) in what proved to be the game-winner. The goal was LaRochelle's second tally of the season while the assist from Voight extended her current point streak to four matches.
The majority of the match was played in the midfield as the teams combined for just five shots on goal and one corner kick. Lesley held a 5-4 advantage in total shots on the afternoon, all of which came in the second half.
The Lynx had an opportunity to even the score shortly after intermission when sophomore Rachel Buckley (San Diego, Calif.) released a shot on the heels of a corner kick from senior Lindsey Bos (Valencia, Calif.), but her drive was corralled by Elms freshman keeper Rebecca Molin (West Hartford, Conn.) to keep the guests off the scoreboard.
Lesley would fire four more shots at the Elms cage throughout the duration of the second half were unable to breakthrough for a score.
Molin made two saves on the afternoon and improve to 7-1-1 overall on the season. Lynx junior goalie Lilly Donovan (Newburyport, Mass.) also made a pair of stops while suffering the loss to fall to 3-3-2 overall.
The Lynx (4-3-2, 1-1-0 NECC) will return to their home field on Monday night when they host Suffolk University in a non-conference bout at 8:00p. The Blazers (7-1-1, 2-0-0 NECC) will play next on Tuesday when they hit the road to Clark University at 7:00p.