Wentworth Opens Season With Tie vs New England College

BOSTON, Mass. – Junior midfielder Veronica Hytner's (St. James, N.Y.) second penalty-kick goal of the game with 37:19 remaining in the second half knotted the game at 2-all, and, despite both teams having chances to win in each of the overtime periods, that's how the game would end in both the season and The Commonwealth Coast Conference openers for both teams.

Wentworth tallied first when junior forward Jess Cutler (Scituate, Mass.) fired a shot from the left side from 20 yards out.  The shot was headed toward an open net where a last-chance effort by a Pilgrim defender tipped it in.  The Leopards held New England College without a shot for the first 33:03 of the contest, and, leading 1-0 at the break, held a 10-1 shot advantage.

Just 1:03 into the second half a foul occurred in the box, which allowed Hytner to take a penalty kick.  She buried the shot to the left side to even the contest at 1-all.  Wentworth needed just 4:30 to take a 2-1 lead when junior defender Lucy Brown (Plainville, Conn.) took a free kick and found classmate Lauren Vargas (Warren, R.I.) along the right side.  Vargas crossed to sophomore Elizabeth Somma (Windham, Maine) at the far post, who put the shot home at 50:33.

At the 52:41 mark Hytner was again called upon to take a penalty kick and would once again beat Leopard sophomore Jess Gardner (Wilbraham, Mass.) to the left side, evening the game at 2-all.  Both teams applied pressure late, with a shot by Somma going just high of the goal in the 84^th minute and a shot by Brown going wide with just over a minute left.  Pilgrim freshman forward Kristen Walker (Franklin, Mass.) had a last-ditch shot in the waning seconds to try and win it for the visitors, but the shot went wide right.

The first overtime saw the hosts hold a 5-0 shot advantage, with one of those shots going on net.  However, in the 99^th minute of play, sophomore Deborah Lesky (Newton, Mass.) hit the crossbar and the rebound by classmate Taryn Doherty (Marshfield, Mass.) went just to the left.

Both teams had one shot in the final overtime period, but it was a key breakup by Gardner of an odd-man run in the final two minutes that prevented New England College from pulling out the win.

Gardner finished with four saves, while freshman Erin Palma (Saratoga Springs, N.Y.) made 10 saves.  The Leopards held a 29-10 shot advantage.