September 19, 2007

#2 BRYANT WOMEN'S SOCCER DEFEATS SOUTHERN NH 3-0

Women's Soccer
@ Smithfield, RI
#2 Bryant 3, Southern NH 0
Goals: B - Diane Pascale, Stephanie Zalewski, Tricia Spada.  SNHU - None.
Shots - Bryant 13, SNHU 8     Saves - Bryant 4, SNHU 8
Halftime - Bryant 2-0

Junior Jessica Neales (Natick, Mass.) made four saves in earning a shutout win over Southern NH Wednesday.  www.dspics.com

SMITHFIELD, RI -  Seniors Diane Pascale (Plymouth, Mass.), Stephanie Zalewski (Parsippany, NJ) and Tricia Spada (Dedham, Mass.) all tallied single goals to help lead second-ranked Bryant University to a 3-0 win over visiting Southern New Hampshire in a Northeast-10 Conference game Wednesday afternoon. 

Bryant (8-0-2, 5-0-1 NE-10) wasted little time getting on the board early in the first half.  Sophomore Holly Tyser (Somers, Conn.) sent a hard cross from the left side in the 12th minute that managed to slip through untouched to an awaiting Pascale cutting hard to the net.  Pascale one-timed a hard shot past Penmen goalie Stef Young (Natick, Mass.) to put the Bulldogs up 1-0. 

Later in the half, the Bulldogs made it 2-0 thanks to the quick reaction from Zalewski.  The senior forward connected on a hard shot from inside the 18-yard box in the 27th minute that was stopped intially by Young.  But the rebound came right back to Zalewski who ripped the ball past Young who couldn't react in time to make the save.

Southern New Hampshire (4-5-1, 2-2 NE-10) started to apply the pressure on the Bryant defense but could not find the back of the net.  Bryant had an excellent scoring opportunity early on as Spada fed a cutting Pascale in front of the SNHU goal but the senior couldn't get a shot off.  But two minutes later, the Bulldogs would come through as Spada notched her team-leading sixth goal of the season to put the game away. 

Bryant will host Saint Michael's College this Saturday at 11 a.m.