The Mount Ida College women's soccer team dropped their eighth Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) loss 3-1 this Monday at hosting Norwich University. The Mustangs fall to 0-8-1 in conference play, 2-9-2 overall, while the Cadets improve to 5-7-1, 3-5-1 in the GNAC.
Norwich, which sustained pressure in the Mount Ida end of the field for the majority of the first half, finally broke through in the 27th minute when Nikki Szczepanski took a long lead pass from Bianca Bogda and slipped the ball past Mustangs goalkeeper Meghan Begins (Jericho, VT/Jericho) for her fourth goal of the year.
The Cadets outshot the Mustangs 12-3 in the first half, but they were unable to add to their lead and carried a 1-0 advantage into halftime.
Mount Ida knotted the score at 1-1 early in the second half when Heather Harrington (Bedford, NH/Manchester West) scored in the 51st minute. Rebecca Tisbert (Cambridge, VT/Lamoille Union) started the play when she fired a shot that was saved by Norwich defenseman Colleen Honan. The rebound bounced right to Harrington, who buried it into the net for her team-leading fifth goal of the season.
Norwich regained the lead just three minutes later when Sarah Reuschel took a pass from Mikella Connery and curled in a shot from the 18-yard line. The high shot sailed just out of Begins' reach and into the top left-hand corner of the cage to give NU a 2-1 advantage.
The Cadets put the game away with just 2:02 to play when Karissa Doyon corralled a nice crossing feed from Lisa Esparza and tapped it into the net from six yards out.
For the game, Norwich held a 20-9 edge in shots. The Cadets enjoyed an 11-1 advantage in corner kicks.
Begins finished the game with six saves for the Mustangs while Alecia Wright made one save for the Cadets.
The Mustangs will travel to Rivier College in Nashua, New Hampshire this coming Saturday for more GNAC action starting at 12:00 noon.