Albertus Magnus Earns Spot Versus Lasell in GNAC Women's Soccer Championship

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

In Wednesday's 2016 GNAC Women's Soccer Tournament Semifinals, third-seeded Albertus Magnus College staved off seventh-seeded Suffolk University, 1-0, and top-seeded Lasell College defeated fourth-seeded Saint Joseph's College of Maine, 5-1. The six-time defending GNAC champion Lasell will now host Albertus Saturday afternoon at 1:00 PM at Taylor Field. 

#1 LASELL 5, #4 SAINT JOSEPH'S 1
NEWTON, Mass. - The top-seeded Lasell College women's soccer team will play for its seventh consecutive Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) title after earning a 5-1 win over fourth-seeded St. Joseph's College of Maine in a semifinal contest Wednesday afternoon at Taylor Field.

Junior Casey Meissner (Sandwich, Mass.) scored two goals, while sophomore Carly Zdanek(Newton, N.J.) added a goal and an assist as the Lasers improved to 17-2-1 on the season. The Monks, who defeated Simmons in the quarterfinal round, finish the season at 10-7-3.

Meissner and Zdanek each posted five shots to lead the Lasell attack, with Meissner putting three on net. Junior Sarah LaClair (Belchertown, Mass.) finished her 16th victory of the season with two saves in each half.

The Lasers scored just 10:41 into the contest as Meissner finished a loose ball that deflected back into the box off senior Megan Cullen's (Amesbury, Mass.) blocked shot. Cullen's assist was her fifth helper and 45th point of the season.

SJC leveled the score in the 30th minute with Haley DaGraca heading home her conference-best 21st goal of the season. Junior Sarah Comtois (Lowell, Mass.) sent a high ball into the box that LaClair just got a piece of, but DaGraca finished the rebound.

As the teams entered halftime in a 1-1 tie, the Lasers held a 9-4 shot advantage. Monks goalkeeper Brooke Troup (East Bridgewater, Mass.) made four saves in the opening period.

Lasell closed the game with four unanswered goals to seal the victory, and finished the game with five or more goals for the sixth time this season. The Lasers posted a dominating 13-2 shot advantage in the back half of the game, while earning two of their four corner kicks.

Senior Devon Day (Hartland, Vt.) netted the eventual game-winner in the 60th minute as she finished a cross from Zdanek, her GNAC-leading ninth assist of the season. Meissner added her second goal of the game and seventh this season, beating Troup to the post with a header in the 64th minute. Sophomore Erika Badger (Scituate, Mass.) tallied the assist off a textbook set piece.

In the 72nd minute, Zdanek added a goal of her own to give Lasell a three-goal advantage. The sophomore's tenth goal of the season came on a shot from the bottom corner and found the back of the net at the far post.

Sophomore Morgan Pinksten (Pelham, N.H.) slipped the Lasers' final goal of the game home less than a minute later, at the 72:32 marker, following up freshman Caitlin Rotonnelli's (Meredith, N.H.) assist.

Troup finished the contest with seven saves on 12 shots on goal, but fell to 9-5-3 to end her junior season.

Courtesy of Lasell Athletics Communications.

#3 ALBERTUS 1, #7 SUFFOLK 0
New Haven, Conn. – Senior Taylor Rotella (Milford, Conn.) scored the game-winning goal in overtime to lead the No. 3 seed Albertus Magnus College women's soccer team past visiting No. 7 seed Suffolk, 1-0, on Wednesday evening in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Tournament Semifinals at Celentano Field.

With the win, the Falcons (11-7-1) advance to the GNAC Championship game for the first time in program history, while the Rams (11-10) see their postseason run come to an end.

Late in the second overtime frame, Rotella headed the game-winner past Suffolk goalkeeper Kirsten Weiker off a corner from sophomore midfielder Kerrigan Loughman (Trumbull, Conn.).

The marker was Rotella's sixth of the season and her second game-winner of 2016. Loughman picked up her team-leading seventh assist of the autumn on a beautiful cross from the corner.

"We still have work left to do, but I couldn't be prouder of this group and what they have done this season," Albertus Magnus College Head Coach Nick Wajnowski said.

Albertus threatened to score and push pressure on Weiker and the Rams backline early in the contest. Junior midfielder Alexya Alves (Naugatuck, Conn.) fired a shot just over the crossbar off a corner from classmate Angelina Piccirillo (Naugatuck, Conn.) two and a half minutes into play. Three minutes later, Alves once again had a shot go just high and senior Liz Nagy (Meriden, Conn.) ended the early Falcon flurry with a shot wide.

The Rams would answer with several scoring chances of their own during the first half. The first came on a blast from striker Alexandra Nagri and later Erica Nelson had a bid that was turned aside by Albertus Magnus sophomore goalkeeper Lexie Fenn (Oakville, Conn.).

Neither squad was able to break through in the opening half and the squads entered the break scoreless. It was a similiar story in the second half and the game moved to overtime tied at zero.

The hosts put pressure on the Rams in the first overtime period, but were unable to break through. Senior Danielle Polvan (East Haven, Conn.), juniorAmanda Montano (North Haven, Conn.) and Piccirillo all had shots that were just high of the target. Montano also clanked a shot off the crossbar during the first ten minutes of overtime.

In net, Fenn stopped all four shots she faced to post her fifth shutout of the autumn. Fenn's clean sheet was her second in a row and all five have come against conference opponents this season. On the opposite end, Weiker made seven saves in a losing effort.

Albertus Magnus held a 22-8 advantage in shots and took five corners compared to zero for the guests. The Falcons threatened on two corners in overtime before Rotella broke though with the game-winner.

Albertus Magnus advances to face No.1 seed and defending conference champion Lasell on Saturday, November 5, in the GNAC Championship game. The Falcons are looking to avenge a 2-0 setback on the road against the Lasers earlier this fall.

Courtesy of Albertus Athletics Communications.