LAFAYETTE HILL, Pa. — The Daemen College women's soccer team closed out its 2018 regular season with a 6-0 victory over Chestnut Hill College here today. The non-conference affair marked the first-ever meeting between the two programs.
Daemen closed out the regular season with an 8-7-1 overall record and a 5-4-0 mark in the East Coast Conference. The Wildcats clinched their first-ever appearance in the four-team ECC Championship Tournament last weekend. Daemen is the tournament's No. 4 seed and will travel to the No. 1 seed for an ECC Tournament semifinal game Tuesday (Oct. 30).
The University of Bridgeport entered today one point behind Mercy College in the ECC standings. UB plays at Roberts Wesleyan College this afternoon, while Mercy closed out its conference schedule with an 11-1 win over Lincoln University yesterday. If UB defeats RWC the Purple Knights will claim the ECC regular-season title and the top seed in the tournament. Mercy would claim the regular-season title and the tournament's top seed if Bridgeport ties or loses to RWC.
Today marked the season finale for Chestnut Hill, a member of the Central Athletic Collegiate Conference. The Griffins finished 3-13-1 overall and 2-9-1 in the CACC.
The Wildcats got goals from five different players today, including two from junior Jamie Boyar (Williamsville, N.Y.). Boyar entered the game with 18 goals on the season, just one shy of the program-record for goals in a season (19) set by Kim Walker in 2005. It appeared Walker's record would stand for at least one more game, but Boyar struck for two goals in the span of 44 seconds with just under 10 minutes to play in the game. Boyar has now totaled 37 goals and 84 points in 49 career games. She ranks second to Walker (54) in career goals and third to Samantha Engel (105) and Walker (132) in career points among Daemen's all-time leaders.
Daemen pressured the Chestnut Hill net early in the game (12 shots in the first 12 minutes), and the Wildcats eventually opened the scoring with an unassisted goal by red-shirt senior Sarah Britton (Syracuse, N.Y.) at 13:04. It marked the first goal of the year for Britton. The Wildcats doubled their lead just two minutes later when sophomore Sam Hanes (North Tonawanda, N.Y.) one-timed a cross from classmate Katja Meyer (Verona, N.Y.) past CHC net minder Leah Peshkin (Haddon Heights, N.J).
Daemen scored twice in the first 20 minutes of the second half to secure the win. Sophomore Celia de Pablo Esteban (Burgos, Spain) scored from 20 yards out—her fourth goal of the year—in the 55th minute, before Meyer and Hanes teamed up again in the 64th minute. This time it was Meyer netting her fourth goal of the year off a feed from Hanes.
de Pablo Esteban assisted on Boyar's first goal of the game and has now totaled 14 assists on the season, just one shy of the program-record for assists in a season (15) set by Janelle Masi in 2011.
The Daemen defense, led by seniors Monique Green (Williamsville, N.Y.) and Alex Valenti (Clarence, N.Y.) and sophomore Sam D'Agostino (Mississauga, Ont.), surrendered just five shots today. It marked the third time this season Daemen has held an opponent to less than 10 shots in a game.
Daemen fired 18 shots at the CHC net in the first half and finished with a 38-6 edge in total shots. It marked the second time this season Daemen has registered 30 or more shots in a game. The Wildcats also posted a 10-2 advantage in corner kicks.
Sophomore Maddie Flores (Seattle, Wash.) played the first half in net for the Wildcats and did not face a shot on goal. She gave way to classmate Katelin White (Lewiston, N.Y.) at the start of the second half. White registered one save over the final 45 minutes. Peshkin faced 21 shots on goal and finished with 15 saves for the Griffins.
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