AUBURNDALE, Mass. - The Simmons College women's soccer team was defeated by host Lasell College, 4-0, this afternoon in a Great Northeast Athletic Conferenece contest at Taylor Field in Auburndale, Mass. The Sharks fall to 3-6-0 overall and 2-1-0 in league play, while the Lasers improve to 4-3-1 and 3-0-0.

Simmons held the GNAC defending champions to just one goal through the first 72 minutes of action, before Lasell struck for three unanswered goals in the final 18 minutes of the game. 

The Sharks attempted the first four shots of the second half, but were unable to break through for a score. The Lasers held a 14-10 shot advantage for the match.

Junior forward Megan Cullen (Amesbury, Mass.) registered a hat trick to lead Lasell. Cullen put the Lasers on the board in the 36th minute when she took a feed from senior midfielder Bridget Munnelly (Bellingham, Mass.) and beat the Simmons keeper one-on-one at 35:15 of the opening half. Cullen's second tally came when first year back Kaleigh Heffernan (Simsbury, Conn.) led her on a breakaway for a scoring strike at 72:44 of the second stanza to give the home team a 2-0 lead. Cullen's third career hat trick became a reality in the 76th minute when she took a through ball in the box from junior midfielder Mack Kingman (East Bridgewater, Mass.) and put the ball in the back of the net for her team-high eighth goal of the year at 75:35 for Lasell.

Kingman and Munnelly figured in the Lasers' final marker of the day when Munnelly recorded her second assist of the day with a cross in front of the net, which Kingman converted for her first goal of the season with 8:56 left to play in the match.

Senior midfielder Victoria Russo (Braintree, Mass.) led the Simmons offense with three shots, while senior keeper Briana Hayes (Manorville, N.Y.) made six saves for the Sharks. Sophomore goalie Sarah LaClair (Belchertown, Mass.) stopped six shots to earn her seventh career shutout for Lasell.

Simmons will be in action again on Wednesday, September 30 when it hosts GNAC foe Mount Ida College at Winsor Field at 7:00 p.m. Lasell returns to play on the same day at 4:00 p.m., taking on Norwich University.