WASHINGTON, D.C. (November 7, 2024) – The Stonehill College women's soccer 2024 campaign ended Thursday afternoon in the Northeast Conference Postseason Tournament semifinal round after the Skyhawks fell to Howard University 2-1. With the loss, the Skyhawks ended their season with an 8-10-1 overall record, while the Bison will advance to Sunday's championship game against the FDU versus Wagner College matchup winner.

Highlights

• The matchup marked Stonehill's first-ever appearance in an NCAA Division I postseason contest and their first overall since the 2019 season when the Skyhawks qualified for the NCAA Division II Tournament.
• Sophomore Annie Renz scored her first collegiate goal for the Skyhawks.
• Junior Hannah Anselmo and senior Grace Caso each tallied a team-high three shot attempts throughout the contest.
• First-year goalkeeper Allie Sougaris posted five saves in between the pipes for Stonehill.
• Senior Melea Earley paved the way for Howard's offensive attack, registering her seventh career two-goal game.
• Sophomore netminder Trinity Knox, the two-time NEC Goaltender of the Year, posted her ninth win of the season in net after stopping five of her six shots faced on the day for the Bison.

How it Happened
Howard wasted little time applying the offensive pressure. Five minutes into the NEC semifinal matchup, Earley found the back of the net for her first of two goals on the day.

Midway through the opening half, on Howard's first corner kick of the match, sophomore defender Lily Roslonek would come up clutch, saving a goal on a redshirt junior Rachel Suttle shot to keep the Skyhawks deficit at one.

However, three minutes later, the Bison doubled their lead when Earley rifled her second goal of the game into the lower right corner of the Skyhawks goal. Despite falling behind by two goals in the opening 25 minutes of play, Stonehill would cut its deficit in half at the 38:38 mark of the first half.  

After a turnover on the defensive third of the pitch, forced by graduate midfielder Emmy Dumaresq, Renz would go on the break and roll a shot past Knox in net for her first collegiate goal and the first in NCAA Division I postseason play for the Skyhawks.

Coming out of the halftime break, Stonehill peppered the Bison defense with four shot attempts and a pair of corner kicks throughout the opening minutes of the second half, looking to find the equalizer. Following the Skyhawks' early scoring opportunities in the final 45 minutes of regulation, the two sides regained play throughout the middle third of the pitch.

With just over 20 minutes left to play in regulation, Howard narrowly went on a solo breakaway and regained its two-goal advantage when Knox sent a goal kick up the field to junior Jaileen De Freitas. However, graduate defender Yara Fawaz would hustle back and stifle the Bison breakaway opportunity to keep the Skyhawks deficit at 2-1.

In the 80th minute, Anselmo, the NEC Offensive Player of the Year, booted a right-footed shot from just outside the 18-yard box just wide of the Bison goal, nearly leveling the game at two aside late in the second half. Despite the valiant effort to knot the score up at two, Stonehill would fall short in its NCAA Division I postseason debut to Howard by a final score of 2-1.

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