BOSTON, Mass. – Seniors Mikayla Elliott (Lowell, Mass.) and Cíara Forde (Quincy, Mass.) each netted a pair of goals on Senior Day to give the Simmons University women's soccer team a 4-0 victory over visiting Norwich University today in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference match at rain-soaked Daly Field in Brighton, Mass. The Sharks improve to 8-5-1 overall and 6-3-1 in league play, while the Cadets fall to 6-6-1 and 3-6-1.
Simmons, which has won eight of its last 11 matches, dominated possession with a 20-7 shot advantage, while owning a 4-1 margin on corner kicks.
The Sharks cracked the scoring column with 13:46 left in the opening half when Elliott tallied her first marker of the day. Junior forward Sienna Caron (Easthampton, Mass.) sent a lead cross up the right side, where Elliott took control and unleashed a shot from just outside the 18-yard box that curved into the upper left corner for a 1-0 lead. Forde gave Simmons a 2-0 lead just before the intermission when she lifted a shot from 15 yards out that found the back of the net on the left side with just 45 ticks left in the half.
The Sharks held a 10-4 shooting advantage at the break and nearly mirrored their effort with a 10-3 divide in the second stanza. Forde padded the Simmons advantage with her team-leading 13th goal of the season coming in the 56th minute of play. Junior midfielder Kristen Mihalich (East Rockaway, N.Y.) lifted a cross on a corner kick into the goal-mouth, where Forde directed the ball into the back of the net with a header to give the home team a three-goal lead. The 13 goals for Forde give her the highest goal-total of any Simmons player since Nicole Zielinski (2003-06) netted 21 markers in 2005.
Elliott capped the scoring when she lifted a shot from the top left corner of the box that found the back of the net in the top right corner for her sixth tally of the year and a 4-0 lead for the Sharks in the 63rd minute of action.
Sophomore midfielder Sydney Rocheville (Salem, Mass.) paced the Norwich offense with four shots, including one on goal.
Senior keeper Lauren Williams (Bowdoinham, Maine) did her part on senior day as well, stopping both shots she faced to earn her fourth career shutout for Simmons. First year goalie Kim Watt (Lindenhurst, N.Y.) turned away a career-high 12 shots for the Cadets.
The Sharks return to action on Wednesday, October 17 when they host GNAC foe Johnson & Wales University at Daly Field for a 7:00 p.m. start, while Norwich travels to Lyndonville, Vt. on October 15 to take on Northern Vermont University-Lyndon at 3:30 p.m.