EASTON, Mass. (August 29, 2024) – First-year student Martha Lord netted her first career goal in the 82nd minute, while sophomore goalkeeper Kelsey Bello stood tall in net, making a career-high eight saves to earn the Stonehill Women's Soccer team a thrilling, 1-0, victory over Quinnipiac Thursday night. With the win, the Skyhawks improved to 1-3 on the young campaign, while the Bobcats dropped to 0-2-1 on the season.
 
Highlights

• The win marked the women's soccer program's first non-conference against a Division I opponent in Stonehill's NCAA Division I era.
• Bello registered her first career clean sheet performance in goal for the Skyhawks after tallying a career-high eight saves.
• Lord's first career goal marked what would end up being the game-winner in the 82nd minute off junior Hannah Anselmo first assist of the season.
• Senior Grace Caso also registered one shot attempt throughout the non-conference contest for Stonehill.
• Graduate student Courtney Chochol and first-year student Klara Bengtsson paved the way for the Bobcats offensively recording two and three shots on goal, respectively.
• Graduate student Victoria Foster and senior Madison Mandleaur held down the back line for Quinnipiac playing a combined 174 of 180 minutes on the night.

How it Happened
Throughout the opening 45 minutes of play, both sides went back and forth on the pitch, creating opportunities but struggling to break through the opposing defenses. After an early shot in the third minute from Lord, the two sides played throughout the middle third over the next 10 minutes of action.

Following the early back-and-forth play, Quinnipiac applied pressure throughout the remainder of the first half. Between the 14- and 45-minute marks of the opening half, the Bobcats tallied seven corner kicks and seven shot attempts, three of which were on goal. However, despite the offensive opportunities, Bello and the Stonehill back-line stood tall in stifling Quinnipiac and sending the game into the break knotted at zero.  

Coming out of the break, both sides saw a flurry of activity in their respective defensive ends of the field, as Stonehill and Quinnipiac traded corner kicks and shot attempts until the 70-minute mark.

With just under 20 minutes remaining in the non-conference match up, Bello would face two strong shots on goal from Foster and Bengtsson, respectively. Foster rifled a shot from just inside the midfield stripe on goal, resulting in Bello's fifth save of the night. Bengtsson would test the sophomore netminder with a shot from inside the 18-yard box. With an outstretched diving grab, Bello would halt Bengtsson's bid for the back of the net to keep the game scoreless heading into the waning minutes.

At the 81:32 mark of the contest, Anselmo would receive a header from sophomore Lily Newell and send a high-lofting pass over defenders to a sprinting Lord, who launched a right-footed shot from 25 yards out into the upper-right corner of the net for her first career goal. Following Lord's goal, older sister, graduate student Meghan Lord, would rush to younger sister Martha for an emotional embrace after the first-year student's milestone gave Stonehill the lead.

Still, with eight minutes left to play, Quinnipiac would look to find the equalizer. At the 84:34 mark, the Bobcats would find the back of the net off a shot from the far side of the pitch. However, an offside call from the referee would waive the goal, retaining the Skyhawks' narrow one-goal lead with five and a half minutes remaining. Following the offside call, the Stonehill defense would stand tall and lock down its first win of the season over Quinnipiac by a final score of 1-0.

Up Next
Stonehill (1-3-0, 0-0-0 NEC) travels to Hanover, N.H., this weekend to play non-conference opponent Dartmouth College on Sunday. Kickoff from Burnham Field between the Skyhawks and the Big Green is set for 1 p.m.

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