On senior day, the Mount Ida College women's soccer team dropped their final game of the season in a 2-1 heartbreaking loss to visiting Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) member Rivier College Tuesday afternoon in Newton, Massachusetts. The Mustangs finish their 2010 campaign under the direction of first year head coach Melissa Philbrook at 3-12-1 going 1-11-0 in conference play while the Raiders, who with the victory with gain a berth to the conference post-season, keep their hopes alive with an overall record of 8-8-2, 4-6-2 in conference competition.
The Mustangs struck first in the 15th minute of play on a long range shot from sophomore Elena Ooms (Valatie, NY/Ichabod Crane). Ooms took a deflected pass from sophomore Ashley Yost (Gloversville, NY/Gloversville) from 30 yards out and fired a shot into the top left corner of the net over the goaltenders head for the 1-0 advantage.
The rest of the opening half remained very quiet with a total of four shots by each team for the final 30 minutes of the first stanza.
The visitors struck 19 minutes into the second half on a very lucky redirection from the Mustangs for an own goal. Raider sophomore Melissa Buccheri (Valley Stream, NY/Valley Stream Central) caught an angle towards the top left corner of the box and headed towards the net. Buccheri poked a shot towards the right corner but unfortunately senior Becky Tisbert (Cambridge, VT/Lamoille Union) attempted a slide tackle to stop the shot and ultimately deflected the ball past her own keeper giving the visitors their first score of the contest knotting up the game at 1-1.
With time winding under the 10 minute mark it looked as if the game would be headed into overtime. Unfortunately for the Mustangs, in the eighth minute a penalty kick was awarded to the visitors after a hard slide tackle in the box by junior Tracy Koukol (North Attleboro, MA/North Attleboro). Raider freshman Morgan Greene (Acworth, NH/Fall Mountain) got the nod from head coach Jeff Simoneau and converted the opportunity into the right corner for the 2-1 lead with little time for Mount Ida to mount a comeback.
The Mustangs could not muster another legitimate opportunity to net a goal dropping their 12th loss of the season and their 11th GNAC loss in 2010 2-1.
Mount Ida senior goalkeeper Meghan Begins (Jericho, VT/Jericho), who will be sorely missed by the Mustangs next year due to her prolific talent between the pipes, made four saves during the contest while Raider goaltender freshman Christine Surber (Langdon, NH/Fall Mountain) denied three host shots.
Congratulations to seniors Meghan Begins, Becky Tisbert, Jen Douglas, and Lindsay Lincoln on all their accomplishments on the field and in the classroom and good luck with all your future endeavors.