Bresciani's Career Day Lifts Warriors Over St. A's, 3-1
NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. – Sophomore forward Katie Bresciani (Hopedale, Mass.) garnered a career-high five points – including her first two goals of the season – lifting the Merrimack women's soccer team to a 3-1 Northeast-10 Conference victory over visiting Saint Anselm on Wednesday night at Martone-Mejail Field.
After dropping a tough 1-0 shutout at No. 25 New Haven on Sunday, the Warriors improve to 8-3 on the season with a 6-2 mark in conference play, while the Hawks sink to 2-6-2 with a 1-5-2 record within the league.
The win also doubled as the program – and 29-year head coach Gabe Mejail's – 400th victory ever, which stands as the most-ever for a single program in the history of Division II women's soccer. The accolade is just another on the long list of accomplishments for Mejail, who already owns the best all-time winning percentage for a DII coach.
Merrimack scored two early goals within the span of two minutes to take an early two-goal lead before the Hawks made it a one-goal game late in the first half, but Bresciani tacked on a late insurance goal to put the game out of reach in the waning moments of regulation to give the home side its sixth conference victory of the year to maintain its second-place spot in the league standings.
Bresciani assisted on the opening goal of the game before tallying Merrimack's last two tallies of the game to wrap up her career night.
In net, junior Nicole Curtis (Billerica, Mass.) recorded five saves to earn her eighth victory of the season, while Saint A's netminder Gabriella Primera fell to 2-6-1 despite her seven-save performance and also benefitted from a team save.
Senior midfielder Laura Spang (Wakefield, Mass.) put the Warriors on the board in the fourth minute after burying a feed across the box from left-to-right into the right side of the net, giving the home side a 1-0 edge in the fourth minute.
Less than two minutes later, senior midfielder Jenn Pino (North Andover, Mass.) sent a pass to leading scorer Danielle Dion (Grosvenordale, Conn.), who immediately one-timed a serve to Bresciani. The Hopedale, Mass., native then carried the ball down the left-wing side before sliding a shot across the box that found the right corner of the net, upping Merrimack's lead to 2-0 just 5:32 into the game.
From there on out, both sides would go back and forth with scoring chances, as Saint Anselm hit the crossbar midway through the half while the Warriors missed out on a few opportunities, as well.
The visitors, however, would get on the board following a foul called against Merrimack just outside of the box. Kaitlin Oldfield set up from the upper-right corner of the 18-yard line and deposited the set piece into the upper-left corner of the net on an impressive strike, slicing the Warriors' lead in half, 2-1, in the 31st minute.
The Warriors would finish the first half with a 10-7 edge in shot attempts despite Saint A's holding a 3-2 lead in corner kicks, but would take a one-goal lead into the break after 45 minutes of play.
In the second half, both sides would play an even game through the first 40 minutes, as both defensive units stepped up over the majority of the final stanza. Merrimack ultimately outshot the Hawks, 11-9, but it wasn't until the 87th minute that Bresciani finally broke through with a late insurance tally. Pino sent a perfect pass that found Bresciani behind the defense, leading to a breakaway goal that sewed up the final margin of victory at 3-1.
The Warriors owned a 21-16 advantage overall in shot attempts and a slim 4-3 edge in corner kicks, while both sides combined for 12 fouls.
Next up, Merrimack hosts conference foe AIC in a huge NE-10 showdown on Saturday afternoon. First kick from Martone-Mejail Field is set for 4 p.m.
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