AMHERST, N.Y. — Roberts Wesleyan College scored three unanswered goals in the second half en route to a 4-1 victory over Daemen College here today in East Coast Conference women's soccer action. RWC ran its winning-streak to five-straight games and improved to 7-3-1 overall and 4-1-0 in the ECC. Daemen dropped to 3-5-2 overall and 1-3-1 in the league.
RWC has now prevailed in each of the last four meetings between the two long-time rivals.
The visiting Redhawks would open the scoring just 2:20 into the contest after RWC countered following a Daemen corner kick. Senior midfielder Bella Mitrevski (Rochester, N.Y.) sent a pass to freshman Maya Rutland (Kent, N.Y.) and the rookie notched her first career goal after sending a high shot just inside the near post.
Daemen evened the score at 1-1 with 9:10 left before halftime. An initial shot by freshman Jamie Boyar (Williamsville, N.Y./Williamsville South) was turned away by RWC net minder Kelsey Brinkel (Rochester, N.Y.), but sophomore Sarah Britton (Syracuse, N.Y./East Syracuse Minoa) collected the rebound and sent a shot into the open net from close range. The goal was the second of the year for Britton and snapped a streak of four-straight games that the Redhawks had held their opponent scoreless.
The eventual game-winning goal came 14 minutes into the second half, just over a minute after Brinkel made a save following a header by Daemen's Alexis Koral (Williamsville, N.Y./William Smith College). Freshman midfielder Emilie Frederikke-Bock (Millinge, Denmark) took a pass from Rutland and sent a low shot past Daemen goalkeeper Jackie Wescott (Glen Ellyn, Ill./Glenbard South).
RWC scored twice in the final 15 minutes to secure the win. Freshman Taylor Rutland (Kent, N.Y.) netted her third goal of the year at 74:32, before Mitrevski netted her team-leading sixth goal of the year with just over five minutes left to play.
After an evenly played first half, RWC outshot the Wildcats 11-6 over the final 45 minutes and the Redhawks finished with a 19-13 advantage in shots for the game. RWC also finished with an 8-7 edge in shots on goal, while Daemen posted a 4-3 advantage in corner kicks.
Wescott recorded four saves for Daemen, while Brinkel—the reigning ECC Defensive Player of the Week—stopped six shots for the Redhawks.
Daemen returns to action Saturday (Oct. 8) when it travels to Burlington, Vt. to face Saint Michael's College in a non-conference match.
For breaking news and continuing coverage of the Daemen women's soccer team, follow @DaemenAthletics and @DaemenWSOC on Twitter.
