BOSTON, Mass. -- The Emmanuel College (Mass.) women's soccer team scored a goal in each half to defeat visiting Simmons University, 2-0, in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference contest at Roberto Clemente Field in Boston, Mass. The Sharks fall to 8-7-1 overall and 6-5-1 in league play, while the Saints win their third straight match to improve to 12-5-0 and 8-3-0.
The Emmanuel defense held Simmons to just two shots for the game with both coming in the first half, while the Saints offense fired 11 shots. Emmanuel held a 7-2 margin on corner kicks as well.
The Saints scored 18 minutes into the match when junior forward Natalie Dash (East Hampton, Conn.) threaded a well-placed through ball to the feet of junior forward Kayla Generis (Wethersfield, Conn.) who took two touches before finishing the semi-breakaway with her ninth goal of the year.
The Sharks received a shot on goal from senior midfielder Cíara Forde (Quincy, Mass.), less than three minutes into the match and classmate Mikayla Elliott (Lowell, Mass.) also put a hard shot on frame to try and tie the match with less than eight minutes remaining in the opening half off of a corner kick.
The scored remained at 1-0 until the 78th minute when Emmanuel took advantage on a foul in the Sharks defensive third of the pitch. On the ensuing direct-kick, freshman back Kennedy Davingnon (Woodstock, Conn.) found the head of Deschenes who netted her fifth goal of the campaign to bump the lead to 2-0 with just 12 minutes to play.
Senior keeper Lauren Williams (Bowdoinham, Maine) registered seven saves for Simmons, while junior goalie Lexi Gawron (South Hadley, Mass.) turned away both shots she faced to record her ninth career shutout for the Saints.
The Sharks return to action on Tuesday, October 23 when they host Brandeis University at Daly Field at 7:00 p.m. in their regular-season finale, while Emmanuel hosts GNAC foe Lasell College on October 24 at 7:00 p.m.