PHOTO CREDIT: Dylan VonderHaar '26

STANDISH, Maine – Saint Joseph's College (1-2-0, 1-0-0 GNAC) opened Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) play with a 2-1 victory over Colby-Sawyer College in a hotly contested women's soccer match at the SJC Athletics Complex on Wednesday evening.

HOW IT HAPPENED:

The Monks scored a pair of goals in the first half, as sophomore midfielder Lelia Weir (Bar Harbor, Maine) steered a shot into the left side of the net on a free kick from about 30 yards out at the 11:48 mark and senior Aaliyah WilsonFalcone (Winthrop, Maine) hit pay dirt on a breakaway in the 32nd minute.

The 2-0 cushion held true until the 86th minute when junior forward Bridget O'Connell (Peabody, Mass.) found the netting during a wave of steady offensive pressure by the Chargers. From the left edge of the 18, O'Connell chipped a volley beyond the reach of SJC senior goalie Carly Downey (Yarmouth, Maine) to make the closing minutes of the match much more interesting.

Fortunately, Downey made a big save in the 88th minute and the Monks staved off a series of corner kicks in the closing 90 seconds to preserve the GNAC victory.

TEAM STATS:

Colby-Sawyer held the advantage in shots (18-13) and corner kicks (13-2) while both teams steered nine shots on target in what was the 2023 GNAC opener for both teams.

THE KEEPERS:

Downey made eight saves in the victory while the Chargers fielded a pair of netminders in the setback, as starter Lyndsey Valletta allowed a pair of goals and made two saves in 33:27 and Alexis Lebreton turned away five shots in 56:33 of play.

HISTORICALLY SPEAKING:

With the win Saint Joseph's improves to 5-2-0 all-time versus Colby-Sawyer College and has now defeated the Chargers in five-consecutive meetings.

NEXT!

Saint Joseph's will host Lasell University on Saturday in a GNAC matchup slated to start at 1:30 PM.

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