Sports

Merrimack Women's Soccer Bests Bentley 3-1, Stays Unbeaten

The following was submitted by Robert Rossi of Merrimack College.

The #17 women’s soccer team remained undefeated this season with a 3-1 victory at Bentley Saturday afternoon. The Warriors elevate their record to 8-0-0 overall and 6-0-0 in the Northeast-10 Conference. The Falcons fall to 4-4-0 on the year and 3-3-0 in league matches.

Jenna Zechner of Billerica opened the scoring in the 16th minute. Zechner’s fifth tally of the year gave Merrimack a 1-0 advantage early in the match. Sarah Coakley registered her second assist of the season on the goal.

Katie Bresciani of Hopedale doubled the Warriors’ lead just 2:20 after Zechner scored. Bresciani buried a feed from Zechner to lift Merrimack to a 2-0 edge in the 18th minute. The goal was the rookie’s third of the campaign.

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Merrimack enjoyed the 2-0 lead at the break while holding a 6-4 margin in shots. Both squads earned two corner kicks in the first frame.

Bentley cut the deficit to a goal in the 65th minute as Laura Muise netted her first tally of the year. Deirdre Leary picked up an assist on the goal as the visitors’ lead was sliced to 2-1.

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Jenn Pino of North Andover tacked on the Warriors’ third goal of the match in the 75th minute to seal the victory. Pino notched an unassisted score for her fourth marker of the year to restore Merrimack’s two-goal gap.

The Warriors finished the contest with a 17-11 advantage in shots. Merrimack earned four corner kicks in the second half to finish with a 6-3 edge.

Kiley Horne of Scituate stopped five shots between the pipes for the visiting side en route to her eighth win of the season.

“We played really well in the beginning of the game. Scoring two goals early and in a short span of time set the tone early for the team and they did a good job of keeping it up,” said head coach Gabe Mejail. “I thought that we did a great job of responding once they got a goal back and not allowing them to gain any momentum.”

Merrimack puts its unblemished record on the line Sept. 28 as it welcomes Assumption to Warrior Field for a league match under the lights.


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