Dion's Overtime Goal Lifts Warriors Over No. 16 Southern New Hampshire, 1-0
MANCHESTER, N.H. – Just less than five minutes into overtime, junior forward Danielle Dion (Grosvenordale, Conn.) found the back of the net for her team-leading eighth goal of the season, as the Merrimack women's soccer team picked up a huge 1-0 road win over No. 16 Southern New Hampshire in a key Northeast-10 Conference showdown on Tuesday night in Manchester, N.H.
After suffering a disappointing 3-2 setback against Pace on Sunday, the Warriors (5-2, 3-1 NE-10) came out firing on all cylinders, out-shooting the host Penmen (4-2-1, 2-2-1 NE-10) by nine in the first half and by eight overall in the game, but after 90 minutes of action neither side had managed to get on the board.
That set the stage for Dion's late heroics, as the Grosvenordale, Conn., native teed off from the top of the box following a feed from senior Jenn Pino (North Andover, Mass.), and her shot beat Southern New Hampshire keeper Maggie Weldon in the lower-right corner of the net to send the Warriors to their second overtime win of the season.
Dion's marker continued a season-long trend of dominance on the offensive side of the pitch for the junior striker, who now has scored eight of the team's 12 goals, accounting for three quarters of the team's goal scoring and one half (16-of-32 points) of its total offense.
"We knew we had a tough task ahead of us before the game, and we were fortunate enough to come out on top tonight," head coach Gabe Mejail said afterward. "Dani [Dion] was the hero again for us, and it was nice to see the girls bounce back after a tough loss and pick up a huge league win in the process over a very, very good team."
The Warriors out-shot the Penmen, 18-10, overall, and benefitted from a 9-1 advantage in corner kicks.
Junior goalkeeper Nicole Curtis (Billerica, Mass.) improved to 5-2 on the season after recording five saves in net, while Weldon finished the match with four stops on the five shots on net she faced.
Merrimack next returns home to face conference foe Le Moyne on Saturday, Sept. 22, at Martone-Mejail Field. First whistle is set for 6 p.m. following the Merrimack football team's afternoon tilt against Southern Connecticut.
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