Women’s Soccer notches shutout over Eastern Nazarene

Box Score BRISTOL, R.I. - The Roger Williams University Women's Soccer team remained undefeated on the young season with a 2-0 win over Eastern Nazarene College Saturday afternoon.

The Hawks move to 5-0-2 and 2-0-0 in the Commonwealth Coast Conference while Eastern Nazarene drops to 2-3-1 and 1-1-0 in the CCC.

Roger Williams kept the Lion defense on its heels throughout the early part of the first half, evidenced by four shots and four offsides calls in the first 20 minutes of play. Eastern Nazarene had a couple of close calls but managed to keep RWU off the board.

The closest attempt for RWU came in the 20th minute, when Haley Carignan (Scarborough, Maine) had a point-blank range shot on the right side of the net. She appeared to have an easy goal, but ENC keeper Kristen Farley (Westminster, Mass.) slid to her left quickly to deny the shot.

The Hawks' perseverance paid off in the 30th minute. Mariah Kaiser (Portsmouth, R.I.) sent a pass to Jessica Valenti (North Reading, Mass.), who then buried a shot into the left corner for a 1-0 Hawk lead.

Valenti nearly tallied her second goal of the game in the 41st minute, firing a shot towards the right side of the goal. Yet another heads-up save by Farley helped keep the Lion deficit at one entering halftime.

Carignan extended the Hawk lead to two seven minutes into the second half. Carignan was brought down in the box at the 52nd minute, leading to a penalty kick opportunity. She stepped up to the circle and drilled the goal into the upper right corner for her third goal of the year.

ENC came close to coming on the board in the 54th minute, with Kelly Couite (West Bridgewater, Mass.) sealing off a Hawk defender and turning with the ball on the left side. She put up a shot towards the right corner, but RWU keeper Sydney Martin (Scarborough, Maine) managed to corral the ball before it did any damage.

Martin picked up the win for RWU, needing only one save in 59:10 of action. Natalie O'Donovan made her season debut for the Hawks in net, playing the final 30:50 of the game.

Farley stopped four shots for Eastern Nazarene in the loss.

"We are always excited to play a competitive soccer game in our conference," said Head Coach Tim Moody. "Eastern Nazarene are a good team that can be dangerous. We handled them extremely well today. Our goal every time we step on the pitch is to win the game, keep a clean sheet, pick up no injuries and receive no cards so that we can select every squad player in the future. So from that perspective we achieved our goals today. We scored a great first goal, which came from something we do well, something that we have been practicing, how we intend to keep playing and scoring goals. It was another contribution from Mariah Kaiser, setting up Jessie Valenti, 2 goals in a week. Jenna Hart did well to get into the box, unfortunately she was fouled before she could put the ball into the back of the net. I had complete faith in Haley scoring the PK. And not to forget, we can defend as well, it was another shutout today, we don't give up many shots or give too many opportunities to the opposition. We defend with 11 players."

"It was also very important to get more players involved in the games and allow them to show they can compete, show their skills to the fans, as they are all working exceedingly hard at practice. We have been working on fitness, technical, tactical skills and game awareness. The squad of players we have selected for this fall have had an awesome start to the season. Going 7 games unbeaten shows we are the real deal, we are difficult to beat, we never give up and are fine to go into overtime if needed to win a game of soccer."

"Today we were always in command of the game. We had very good performances from several players and at times are passing and movement is excellent. We can be a joy to watch when we all click. You can tell we are beginning to gel and understanding our team philosophy! The ideas and concepts we have introduced to the players, especially the new arrivals are going to pay off in the long run. We can compete with anybody in the country when we are in the zone. We haven't played for 90 minutes yet, but I feel we will peak at the right time. It is always difficult to play at a high level in every game, but that is the challenge we have to embrace. We are not the hidden or unknown team anymore. I would hate to be that team when we find our stride and everything is clicking."

"We have an awesome soccer program at RWU, we want to break records and achieve new levels of success. For us that means a lot of hard work on the pitch, in the gym and in the classroom."

Roger Williams will head to Emmanuel on Wednesday for a 7 pm matchup, while Eastern Nazarene hosts Suffolk on Monday.

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