Simmons Soccer fell to Great Northeast Athletic Conference rival Emmanuel College on Saturday afternoon. The Saints' Brittany Ridge scored two goals and Amber DiNucci recorded 3 assists to lead Emmanuel to a 4-0 victory over the Sharks. With the loss, the Sharks fall to fourth place in the conference with an 8-5-2 overall record (6-2-2 GNAC), and Emmanuel steps up to second place with a 7-2-1 GNAC record.

Emmanuel controlled most of the possession for the match with the Sharks having only glimpses of an attack. Junior Brooke MacKenzie (Mansfield, Mass.), Simmons' leading scorer, was held to only 3 shots by the Saints defensive line.

In the first half, DiNucci found Liz Blasser with a through ball to the outside right. Blasser found the back of the net to put Emmanuel up 1-0 13 minutes into the first half. 25 minutes later, DiNucci found outside midfielder, Ridge, wide open in the Sharks' penalty area and Ridge slotted it behind Sharks' keeper Rachel Elliott (Amherst, N.H.) to boost the Saints to 2-0 at halftime.

Nine minutes into the second half, Meghan Long served a dangerous corner kick and Elliott made an athletic punching save to clear the ball out. The save wasn't enough, as Ridge was left unmarked once again at the top of the penalty area for her second goal of the afternoon, lifting the score to 3-0.

Ten minutes later, DiNucci found central midfielder Kate McKenna open about 20 yards from the frame, and she cracked a hard shot by Elliott to put the final tally at 4-0 in favor of the Saints.

Simmons was outpaced by the Saints in shots on goal, 15-5, while goalkeepers Ashley Wheeler (Nashua, N.H.) and Elliott combined for 13 saves on the day while facing 25 total shots.

"Today's performance was disappointing," said Head Coach Erica Mastrogiacomo. "My staff and I know the talent and athleticism our roster has, and for us to walk away from this game with loss is frustrating. On a positive note, we have two regular season games left and hopefully with better outcomes we can continue to challenge for one of the top finishes in the bracket. We will learn from today and I am confident that our team will be able to regroup and fight for the next two."

Simmons will next travel to Johnson and Wales on Wednesday, October 21 for a 3:30pm GNAC matchup.