BRIGHTON, Mass. – The 2023 season came to a close for the Simmons soccer (1-14-2, 1-12-2 GNAC) falling to Norwich University (4-10-2, 3-9-2 GNAC), 2-1, in Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) action on Tuesday night.
Norwich's offense started strong, earning a corner kick within the first two minutes of play, but they were unable to capitalize. Momentum began to swing over to the Shark bench moments later with a corner kick of their own, but graduate senior Riley Wasiuk's shot escaped wide right of the target. The two teams battled each other valiantly and kept each other of scoreboard to head into the locker room with score tied at zero.
When the teams emerged for the start of the second half, the Sharks broke up the scoreless contest nine minutes into the period. After senior Sydney Neumuth pulled a shot wide of the goal, Simmons was able to maintain the possession. Sticking with it, graduate senior Mia Nikolakopoulos knocked in her first goal of the season in the 54th minute to put the Sharks up 1-0.
The Sharks defense managed to hold off the Cadet offense, but in the 69th minute, Bella Roy scored the equalizer to tie the game 1-1. Six minutes later, the Cadets went ahead by one finding the back of the net off a corner kick.
However, Simmons was not going to be deterred and battled until the very end. Sophomore Charlotte Sckaal nearly tied up the game a minute later but the ball went wide of the target. Two minutes later, Nikolakopoulos also almost evened the score but the Cadets came up big with the save to maintain the advantage as they held on for their fourth win of the season.
SIMMONS HIGHLIGHTS
- Graduate senior Mia Nikolakopoulos scored her first goal of her career in the 69th minute to give Simmons the 1-0 lead.
- Sophomore goalkeeper Julia Rodgers registered a pair of saves in 90 minutes in goal.