BOSTON, Mass. – Senior Krista Ledin (Bridgewater, Mass.) recorded a hat trick and eclipsed the 200-point plateau for her career as the University of Massachusetts Boston women's soccer team defeated Wentworth Institute of Technology, 6-1, in non-conference action.
With the win the Beacons win their second straight and run their unbeaten streak to six (5-0-1), improving to 6-2-3 on the season. The Leopards dropped their third straight to stand at 5-6-1.
UMass Boston scored three times in a span of five minutes to take a commanding 3-0 lead less than 19 minutes into the contest. Senior Erika Garufi (Milton, Mass.) scored on an assist from freshman Marina Kelly (Whitman, Mass.) at 13:53. The Beacons took a 2-0 lead at the 15:56 mark when junior Natasha Stibor (San Francisco, Calif.) scored off a rebound of her own blocked shot.
The Beacons made it a 3-0 contest at 18:53 when senior Amanda Pugliese (Pembroke, Mass.) fired a long shot that when over senior Beverly Farris' (Palmer, Mass.) head and, at 29:22, UMass Boston upped its lead to 4-0 when Kelly set up Ledin for the goal, which put her over 200 points for her career.
Kelly notched her third assist of the contest at the 48:41 mark when she once again set up Ledin who scored on a chip shot from 12 yards out to make it a 5-0 game.
Junior Valeria Zapata (Pawtucket, R.I.) broke the shutout at the 52:24 mark when she capitalized on a Beacon turnover and blasted a shot from the top of the box.
UMass Boston rounded out the scoring with 33 seconds left when Ledin completed the hat trick.
Senior Dani Perkins (Murrieta, Calif.) made four saves in 60:02 of work to pick up the win before junior Kristen Spain (Quincy, Mass.) made five saves over the final 29:58. Farris turned aside four shots in the loss. Wentworth held a 22-18 shot advantage, with each team putting 10 shots on goal. UMass Boston was awarded all five corner kicks in the contest.
Both teams hit the road for conference contests on Saturday as the Beacons are at Western Connecticut in Little East play while the Leopards resume Commonwealth Coast Conference play at the University of New England.
