Olivia Pickard picks great time to score first collegiate goals

NEWPORT, R.I. (October 30, 2019) - Salve Regina University's Olivia Pickard (Wellfleet, Mass.) scored her first two collegiate goals in women's soccer, and then assisted on Carah Cote's (Adams, Mass.) seventh of the season as the Seahawks built a 3-0 first-half lead and held on for a 3-2 final against visiting Wentworth Institute of Technology in the final regular-season game of the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC).

The Seahawks (9-10-0, 4-4-0 CCC) claim the No. 6 seed in the upcoming postseason and will travel to No. 3 University of New England for a quarterfinal match on Saturday, November 2 (3:30 p.m.). The Leopards (6-11-2, 2-4-2 CCC) return to Rhode Island as the No. 7 seed and play at No. 2 Roger Williams University in another quarterfinal (11 a.m.).

In a steady rain, Pickard got the ball to slip past Leopard keeper Allison Haynes (Shelton, Conn.)  from outside the box in the second minute, and repeated the feat in the sixth minute for a quick 2-0 lead. Cote fed the ball into the box on Pickard's second goal. In the 17th minute, Cote converted Pickard's cross for a 3-0 advantage. Salve Regina had goals on its first three shots, and Pickard had her first five collegiate points. The Seahawks had two more shots the rest of the half and neither was on frame.

Wentworth tilted the field after falling behind by three, and put four shots on Salve Regina keeper Jenna Park (Barrington, R.I.) between the ninth and 12th minutes. The Seahawk freshman had six first-half saves before leading Leopard scorer Jess Poratti (Essex Junction, Vt.) found the back of the net from the top of the box after a feed from Alexandria Rodriguez (San Diego, Calif.).

The Seahawks led 3-1 at halftime, but had been outshot 12-5 in the first 45 minutes. The Leopards controlled play the majority of the second half, registering 20 shots (just five for the Seahawks), with Park coming up with several spectacular saves. Salve Regina's only shot on frame in the final period came off the foot of Pickard in the 73rd minute.

Haynes grabbed that save and immediately put the Leopards on the offensive with Poratti denied by Park at the other end less than 30 seconds later.

Wentworth pulled within one when junior Molly Donahue (Quincy, Mass.) initially whiffed on a shot attempt in the box before resetting herself for a solid line drive into the top left side of the net in the 89th minute. The Seahawks advanced the ball into their offensive zone and Devyn DeFalco (Brockton, Mass.) delivered a shot wide of Haynes' net. With a goal kick at 41 seconds remaining, the visitors advanced the ball into their offensive zone but were denied another shot attempt.

Park finished with 13 saves to take over the league lead in that category with 142 on the season; Haynes had just the one stop.

Wentworth leads the all-time series (12-10-1), but Salve Regina has won the last three meetings (4-1 in Newport on Sept. 30, 2017; 2-1 in Boston on Oct. 17, 2018) and four of the last six.