SPRINGFIELD, Mass. - September 1, 2018 - The Springfield College women's soccer team put up five goals in the first half en route to a 5-1 victory over Roger Williams in the Championship game of the Springfield College Invitational, hosted on Brock-Affleck Field on Saturday afternoon.
 
With the win, the Pride is now 2-0 to begin the year, while the Hawks level out to 1-1 overall. Springfield College owned a 18-2 margin in shots over 90 minutes of play, while the Pride also had four corner kicks to Roger Williams' one. In net, Bridget O'Connor (Hanover, Mass.) earned her first-career save, as she only had to make one save in 90 minutes of action.
 
Senior Amanda Wright (Pittsfield, Mass.) continued her dominant weekend as she scored twice more on Saturday to push her season total to three. Additionally, Sara Swetland (Manchester, N.H.) played the role of facilitator up top, as she dished out a pair of assists in the win.
 
Springfield College got on the board early as Wright tucked in a pair of goals in the first 2:41 of the contest to give the Pride an early 2-0 cushion. Just 2:12 into the game, Wright took a pass from Swetland and found the back of the net, before the senior added her third of the season just 29 seconds later, an unassisted tally.
 
Roger Williams cut the Pride's deficit in half just 3:40 later as Jodie Lavigne (Coventry, R.I.) was able to sneak a shot past O'Connor, but in the 16th minute, Springfield College pushed its lead back to a pair when Swetland dished a ball to Kellie Gambell (Middletown, Conn.), who converted for her first-career goal to make it 3-1.
 
The Pride continued to pour in the goals, as just 4:17 later, freshman midfielder Kaleigh Dale (Mansfield, Conn.) drilled a direct free kick into the right side of the net to give Springfield College a three-goal, 4-1 lead over the Hawks, before Sydney Wine (New Braintree, Mass.) fired a point-blank opportunity into the top of the netting, sending the Pride into the halftime break with a comfortable 5-1 lead.
 
The play was back-and-forth for a majority of the second half, resulting in a 5-1 score once the final whistle blew.
 
"Well, not the performance or result we were looking for tonight after playing so well the previous day," said Head Coach Tim Moody. "We started great and put together around 30 passes, crossed the ball into their penalty area and looked dangerous. Then one of our players got knocked down and the foul wasn't called to our surprise, we were out of position which transitioned into their first goal. Had that not happened the game could have gone in a different direction.
 
"We got back into the game when we made it 2-1 but we just didn't have the luck with us or on our side today. But to give credit to the players, they never threw in the towel and showed grit, determination to compete, and be difficult to beat for the remaining part of the match.
 
"Plenty of lessons learned today, which in the long run will help us be a better team and short term focus on what we need to improve upon to keep games close and in contention. We need to be more solid, connected in all areas of the pitch, limit passing lanes and change from being a first to second defender.
 
"We started 5 freshmen players today and perhaps our youth and in experience got the better of the occasion and playing back to back games. But playing is the only way to gain experience and learn from the mistakes you make, going forward into more important games later down the road this will help all the players.
 
"It is early days still and we are still adapting to our new style of play, so with a few more opportunities to practice we can start putting the pieces together to be better collectively from defense to attack. 
 
"Yesterday we were awesome, tonight not so much...it is going to be another fun, entertaining and intriguing season!"
 
Up next, Springfield College will travel to Western New England on Wednesday, September 5, and will take on the Golden Bears at 4 p.m.
 
- Release courtesy of the Springfield College Sports Information Department