Seahawks hold off Bison, 4-3

DUDLEY, Mass. - The Salve Regina University women's soccer team fought off a furious comeback from host Nichols College to win its sixth game in a row, a 4-3 The Commonwealth Coast Conference victory at Vendetti Field Friday evening.

The Seahawks (7-2, 4-0 TCCC) took an early 3-0 lead, but saw it slip away by the 73rd minute thanks to a hat trick by Nichols first-year forward Samantha Abro (Northborough, Mass.). The Bison slip to 3-6 overall and 0-4 in conference games.

Salve Regina sophomore Liz Galla (Beacon Falls, Conn.) and freshman Kaitlyn Birrell (Hope, R.I.) each had a pair of goals in the game, with Birrell also tallying an assist.

Galla planted a corner kick to give Salve Regina the lead just over 90 seconds into the game before leading scorer Birrell netted a pair in a span of three minutes to push the Seahawks' advantage to three.

Senior Jennifer Duval (Dudley, Mass.) set up the first, sending Birrell through the defense for an easy score in the 29th minute before Birrell did all the work for the second, placing the ball in the upper 90 for her team-leading 12th goal of the year.

Abro finished a chip-ahead from Chelsea Shaughnessy (Halifax, Mass.) in the 41st minute to put the Bison on the board before halftime, and then netted the next two to knot the game, first heading in a pass from Maria DiTomasso (Rindge, N.H.) before capping her trifecta with an unassisted score.

Birrell assisted on the game-winner, sending Galla in on a one-on-one where she put the ball in the lower left with just over five minutes left in the game.

Seahawks netminder Katie Vaudrain (Pawtucket, R.I.) made four saves in the win, while Nicole Johnson (Westhampton, Mass.) shouldered the loss with five saves.

Nichols returns to action Wednesday, October 1, in a 4 p.m. TCCC game at Regis. Salve Regina hosts University of New England Tuesday at 4 p.m.

Courtesy of Nichols sports information