ERIE, Pa. – The Mercyhurst College women’s soccer team opened the 2010 season in grand fashion Friday afternoon, trouncing NAIA-opponent West Virginia Tech, 7-0, at Mercyhurst Soccer Field. With the victory, the Lakers (1-0-0) improved to 18-6 all-time in season openers and recorded their 10th opening-day shutout since the program’s start in 1987.
The Lakers overwhelmed the Golden Bears with a high-powered offense that accumulated 19 points and scored seven goals for the first time since a 7-0 blanking of West Virginia Wesleyan during the 2007 season. Of those seven goals, six of them came courtesy of first-year players. Freshmen
Gabrielle Catrabone and
Perrin Kern led the youth movement with two goals apiece.
Maria Antunez scored once and assisted on another, while
Katie Michaelis tacked on a late tally to end the game. The multiple rookie scorers marked the first time since 2005 that at least two rookies scored in a season opener.
In a game ruled by rookie scoring, it was the veterans who put the Lakers out to a 2-0 lead in the first half. Junior
Molly Marsh secured the win and scored the team’s first goal of the season when she took a long pass from the midfield and split two defenders for a clean strike that sailed to the far post with 14:08 elapsed. Senior
Jamie Schroter then helped double the lead, sending the ball from the left corner of the field to the far post where Kern headed it in for a 2-0 advantage at 38:41.
After the break, the offense kicked it into high gear with a five-goal run. Catrabone got the Lakers going again with her first goal of the afternoon off a pass from Marsh at 47:03. Less than three minutes later, Kern found the back of the net for the second time, this time off a pass from junior
Renai Medeiros at the 49:49 mark. Catrabone then scored the team’s fifth goal on a lob shot from inside the box at 55:02.
From that point, the offense died down for nearly 29 minutes until Antunez revived it, knocking in a low shot past the goalie with less than seven minutes to play. Michaelis then closed out the game when she cleaned up an Antunez rebound in the box and rifled it past a stunned Breanna Gonse at the 87:02 mark.
Mercyhurst increased its shot total from 18-0 in the first half to 29-4 for the game. Junior
Rachel Griepsma recorded the complete-game shutout with two saves, her first of which came midway through the second half on a point-blank attempt. Counterpart Gonse stopped six shots in the loss. The Lakers also held a 13-3 advantage in corner kicks and committed 12 fouls to West Virginia Tech’s five.
The Lakers return to action on Sunday, Sept. 5, when they host defending West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference champion Davis & Elkins in a 1 p.m. contest at Mercyhurst Soccer Field.