Women's Soccer shuts out Engineers

Box Score WORCESTER, Mass. – Roger Williams University Women's Soccer senior Jessica Valenti (North Reading, Mass.) scored 2:51 into the contest and the Hawks held on for a 1-0 victory over host WPI Sunday afternoon in a non-conference women's soccer match at Alumni Stadium.

Both teams entered the contest ranked in the NSCAA Division III New England coaches poll as Roger Williams (11-0-3) checked in ninth and the Engineers (9-2-1) remained 10th for the second consecutive week.

Valenti elevated her fifth goal of the year past the WPI netminder in the third minute off a pass from sophomore Samantha Woznicki (Bristol, Conn.). The Hawks did not take another shot on goal until the 62nd minute when senior Mariah Kaiser's (Portsmouth, R.I.) took her first of five attempts, which included nifty saves by WPI junior Abbey Teliska (LaGrangeville, N.Y.) at 61:10, 72:39 and 82:34.

Roger Williams sophomore goalkeeper Sydney Martin (Scarborough, Maine) was tested by sophomores Megan Hanshaw (Simsbury, Conn.) and Karina Larson (Storrs, Conn.) in the 27th and 58th minute, respectively. The Engineers best chance came in the 12th minute; however, senior Emily Doherty's (Shrewsbury, Mass.) bid caromed off the left post.

The Crimson and Gray looked to force overtime with a wild 90-plus seconds left in the match. Junior Erin Bracken's (Bridgewater, Mass.) began the sequence when she boomed a close range chip shot at 88:27 and sophomore Susannah Gray's (York, Maine) bid following a corner kick in the waning moments was blocked.

In all, the Engineers had the 11-8 advantage in shots while the Hawks were awarded seven of the contests 13 corner kicks.

The WPI women's soccer team and support staff donned t-shirts while donations were also collected on behalf of the American Cancer Society as part of the team's breast cancer awareness effort.

"After winning yesterday at Salve it was a big ask to play back to back games away from home," said Head Coach Tim Moody. "However we came up trumps, and scoring early helped. Scoring first gives you that edge, going in front always helps, something to play for and defend the goal advantage for 87 minutes. That was the earliest we have scored and the longest time we have had to defend a lead. We were successful at both ends of the pitch. That has how this season is panning out and there is nothing wrong at all with that. I will take a 1 nil win every time over a 5-4 win or 5-4 defeat."

"WPI are a very good team from the NEWMAC who have won a lot of matches against good teams, so our result today was even more impressive. Both teams had chances to change the score line but the defenders were better than the attackers today. Their keeper was very good and made some crucial saves and Sydney Martin is back to her best. Their keeper had more to do, we hit the target more than them, including a post, a bar and kept her very busy..."

"I believe the team understands how important it is to keep a clean sheet, we have done it 3 times this week against teams that can and have scored plenty of goals this season. Our team concept of defending from the front is why we limit the opposition to a few chances. We were very good last year and we are a very good team this year. We are very much a team because we work together to achieve a common goal every time we play. Our defensive mids do a great job screening the backline and preventing the ball reaching the forwards. We win headers and are always first to the second ball. We work hard to get the ball back and hold onto it, to possess with a purpose to score goals."

"Our overall team shape going forward and defending is balanced and that is the key to our success. You need to have a balanced side with key personnel who can take care of their own responsibilities on their part of the pitch to make it work. We work extremely hard on this in practice and it is transitioning into our competitive games. There is a lot of praise to go around! It is getting difficult to find things to talk about at half time and at the end of games because we do so much so well. And that is a good problem to have and I hope it continues for the next couple of months…"

"Hopefully next week goes the same way!"

WPI is idle during finals week and will resume on Saturday when it hosts Wellesley at 1pm. Roger Williams entertains UMass Dartmouth Wednesday at 4pm.

- Release courtesy of the WPI Sports Information Department

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Players Mentioned

#7 Mariah Kaiser: F; 5' 7"; Senior

#1 Sydney Martin: GK; 5' 7"; Sophomore

#8 Jessica Valenti: MF; 5' 5"; Senior

#20 Samantha Woznicki: MF; 6' 0"; Sophomore

Players Mentioned

#7 Mariah Kaiser
: 5' 7"; Senior
: F

#1 Sydney Martin
: 5' 7"; Sophomore
: GK

#8 Jessica Valenti
: 5' 5"; Senior
: MF

#20 Samantha Woznicki
: 6' 0"; Sophomore
: MF