Simmons Soccer traveled to the Wellesley College Invitational this weekend to take on Wellesley and Montclair State. The Sharks lost to Wellesley 2-0 in Saturday's opening match.

Wellesley College freshman Ashley Farnsworth (Epping, NH) picked up her first goal of the game just 1:44 in the match to set the score at 1-0 in Wellesley's favor.  The rest of the first half was scoreless.  At the break, Simmons was kept in the game by seven saves from keeper Rachel Elliott (Amherst, NH), as the Sharks were outshot 14-6.

Simmons had their best chance to score at the 58-minute mark when a corner kick came close to drawing the Wellesley keeper out of the net, but the Sharks could not convert and the score remained 1-0 in favor of Wellesley.

Wellesley found the back of the net once more in the 88th minute, setting the score at 2-0. The Sharks' Elliott finished the day with nine saves.

"Katie Foley (Rochester, NH) did an excellent job of regrouping her defenders and played a solid second half," said Head Coach Erica Mastrogiacomo. "Allie Megna (Plymouth, MA) sparked some offensive chances as an outside midfielder who was looking to combine with Brooke (Mackenzie) and Anna (Stella)."

With the loss, Simmons advanced to the consolation game, while Wellesley advanced to play Skidmore in the championship match.


Simmons Soccer lost to Montclair State on Sunday, 3-1, playing in the consolation match at the Wellesley College Invitational.

Montclair took an early 2-0 lead on back-to-back goals from Natalia Sista. Sista knocked in the first at 12:55 and scored off of a Rachel Senyszyn assist a little over five minutes later.

Simmons cut the Montclair State lead to 2-1 when Brooke MacKenzie (Mansfield, MA) scored unassisted at the 32-minute mark. However, Montclair State was able to hold on to the 2-1 lead at the break, out-shooting Simmons 18-9 in the first half.

In net for Simmons, Rachel Elliott (Amherst, NH) picked up 18 saves while the Red Hawk's Leah Tepperman saved five.

"We are going to have a solid week of training and get ready for our conference season to begin," said Head Coach Erica Mastrogiacomo. "With the win under our belt against Albertus, we are heading into conference play 1-0 and we will look to learn from these non-conference matches."

Simmons Soccer will return to action at home on Saturday, September 20 at 1:00pm vs. Lasell.