Mitchell College Sports Roundup

Mitchell College dropped two competitions on Wednesday, losing a women's soccer game to UMass Dartmouth and a women's tennis match to Becker College. The Mariners also took part in the Blazer's Invitational men's golf tournament. The following information was provided by David Longolucco, sports information director at Mitchell College:

Women's Soccer: UMass Dartmouth 3, Mitchell 2

The UMass Dartmouth women’s soccer team scored the game-winning goal in the 87th minute to hand Mitchell College a 3-2 defeat on Wednesday afternoon at Alumni Field.

Vanessa Demelo (Fall River, Mass./Durfee) netted the go-ahead score with 2:50 remaining in regulation to put the Corsairs (6-4-0 overall) on top for good. She drilled a free kick from just outside the box on the left side, sending her shot around a two-player wall and to the near post. Mitchell goalkeeper Kaylee Woodford (Niantic, Conn./Morgan School) tried to punch it away, but the ball ended up in the back of the goal for Demelo’s first tally of the season.

The game began with a scoring flurry, with four goals to be had in the opening 18 minutes of play. UMass Dartmouth took the initial lead in the 11th minute on a sequence that saw Danielle Gauvin (Fall River, Mass./Durfee) and Maura Gonsalves (Dartmouth, Mass./Dartmouth) connect with Erica Jonasson (Wrentham, Mass./Tri-County) for a score. Jonasson took a pass to the right side of the box and scored her eighth goal of the season by chipping it into the far side netting.

Mitchell evened the game up less than two minutes later when senior Nikki Hoxie (Winsted, Conn./Gilbert School) played a ball into the box that the UMD defense tried to clear away. The attempt ended up in the back of the Corsairs’ net for an own goal and a 1-1 score.

UMass Dartmouth took the lead back 52 seconds later. The Corsairs had possession inside the Mitchell 18-yard box when a defender was whistled for a takedown. The resulting penalty kick was finished off by Gonsalves—her first goal of the season—to put UMD up 2-1.

The Mariners equalized again in the 18th minute when senior Angie Smith (Meriden, Conn./Platte) centered a ball into the box and found freshman Maariyah Lombardo (Middletown, Conn./Middletown) at the far post. Lombardo finished off the pass with a header for her third goal in as many games.

The teams went into the halftime intermission tied at 2-2, and the game seemed destined for overtime until Demelo’s late heroics. UMD held a 26-5 advantage in shots and put 17 on goal. Woodford finished with a season-high 14 saves while Krista Chauvin (Seekonk, Mass./Seekonk/Stonehill) made two stops in goal for the Corsairs and earned her first victory of the season.

Mitchell returns to NECC play at Regis College on Saturday, October 1 at noon. UMass Dartmouth will next host Rhode Island College on Saturday at 1 p.m.

Women's Tennis: Becker 8, Mitchell 1

The Mitchell College women’s tennis team dropped an 8-1 final to Becker College on Wednesday afternoon in NECC action at the Mitchell College Tennis Courts.

The Hawks (7-1 overall, 2-0 NECC) swept through the doubles portion of the competition and rallied to win five the six singles matches. The lone win for the Mariners (1-4 overall, 0-3 NECC) came at the No. 1 singles position, where sophomore Mackenzie Flanagan (San Anselmo, Calif./San Domenico) topped Megan Nessen (Levittown, Pa./Truman) in 10-point tiebreaker after splitting the first two sets.

After posting convincing wins at all three doubles spots, Becker moved on to dominate the singles matches and won at the final five positions in straight sets. The same four Hawks that earned victories in doubles—Nicole Connolly (Scarborough, Maine/Catherine McAuley), Laura Mimms (Ashland, Mass./Ashland), Shauna McNally (Worcester, Mass./Bourne) and Lianna Woodbury (South Dennis, Mass./Dennis-Yarmouth)—all won their singles matches without giving up a game.

Mitchell will next play at Regis College on Saturday, October 1 at noon. Becker returns to action at home against Bay Path College on Thursday, September 29 at 3 p.m.

Men's Golf

Elms College sophomore Henry Fall earned individual medalist honors with a two-over-par round of 74 at the Blazers Invitational on Wednesday at Westover Golf Course.

Elms’ Green squad notched a team score of 310 to lead the field of 14 teams, followed by Westfield State University’s A team (314) and Rhode Island College (316) in second and third place, respectively. Anna Maria College (319), Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (MCLA) (322), Sage Colleges (323), Westfield State B (334), Becker College (339), Newbury College (342), Franklin Pierce University (355), Daniel Webster College (359), Emmanuel College (365), Elms Gold (390) and Mitchell College (421) rounded out the field.

Fall was one-over-par on both nines en route to his 74 to finish first overall in the 68-player field, while Anna Maria’s Shaun Frigon shot 37 on the front nine and 38 on the back nine to come in one stroke behind Fall and notch second place honors. Blazers’ sophomore Kyle Simard was two strokes off the leader and finished third overall with a score of 76.

Manny Story led the Mariners with a round of 89 in his first-ever collegiate event. He finished tied for 47th overall. Also competing for the Mitchell squad were Richard Palaia (94, T-57th), Taylor Zaldivar (106, 64th) and Chris Ewing (132, 68th).

The men's golf team will next compete at the Mitchell Invitational on Wednesday, October 5 at Shennecossett Golf Course. Tee times begin at 11 a.m.