Late rally leads Beacons past Seahawks, 3-0

NEWPORT, R.I. - The UMass Boston women's soccer team broke through with three goals in the final five and a half minutes of play to defeat Salve Regina University by a score of 3-0 during a non-conference contest at Reynolds Field on Wednesday afternoon. The Beacons improve to 8-4 with the win, while the Seahawks fall to 9-3 overall.

The two teams fought to a 0-0 tie during the opening half, with the Beacons outshooting the Seahawks by an 11-6 margin. A more telling statistic, however, was the 6-0 advantage that UMB held in shots on goal.

The two teams continued to battle for control of the game in the second half, but the match remained scoreless after 84 minutes of play.

Salve Regina goalkeeper Jessica Lane (Marshfield, Mass.) kept her team in the game with several key stops while recording 11 saves to this point.

However, the Beacons finally got one past Lane at the 84:26 mark as freshman Krista Ledin (Bridgewater, Mass.) set up Kristin Mulry (Holbrook, Mass.) with a beautiful back heel pass which she drilled into the top of net for what turned out to be the game-winning goal.

The Beacons scored again just over one minute later when senior Molly Kuchar (Asheville, N.C.) took a tap pass off a corner and found senior Brie Cavanaugh (Belchertown, Mass.) in the box for a one-touch score to extend the UMB lead to 2-0.

UMass Boston iced the game less than a minute later as junior Brittney Spencer (West Brookfield, Mass.) found senior Julienne McCuish (Mashpee, Mass.) who drilled a shot from roughly 25 yards out to seal the 3-0 victory.

Sophomore Erin McCullough (Ludlow, Mass.) was noticeably active for the Seahawks, while senior Kaitlyn Birrell (Hope, R.I.) also played well, leading the team with five shots on the day.

The Beacons were paced by Ledin, who led all players with seven total shots and four shots on goal, while also dishing out the game-winning assist to Mulry.

Both clubs will return to action on Saturday, with the Beacons hosting UMass Dartmouth at 1 p.m., and the Seahawks looking to bounce back on the road versus Gordon at noon.