Medford, MA- The Women's Soccer team celebrated their two seniors on Monday afternoon, before their AII Conference matchup with the visiting Washington Adventist Shock (3-6). Coach Julian Crowder and the team had a pre-game ceremony highlighting the careers of Tajuanna Brown (Boston, MA) and captain Reilly Demers (Wilbraham, MA). Demers has been a four-year Falcon and has been a great captain for her squad this season, but unfortunately the Shock spoiled the celebration as they defeated the Falcons 7-0 at Hormel Stadium. The Shock improves to 3-6 on the season while the Falcons fall to 1-8-1.
The Shock wasted little time as they were able to break the offsides trap set by the Falcons, as a pass from Madeline Mejia from the right side of the goal made it across to the foot of Leslie Salvador who smacked it home for the 1-0 lead, just under three minutes into the contest. Fisher responded quickly as Carla DaSilva (Somerville, MA) had her first shot of the afternoon, but Shock's keeper Leke Fontava came up with the save to keep her team in the lead. Falcons keeper Olivia Handy (La Verne, CA) kept the Shock off the board for the next 20 minutes of play, making some tremendous stops to keep her team within one. WAU continued with the pressure, taking advantage of their speed, and put home five more goals before the half, including three goals for Ariella Amaguana. The Falcons had numerous scoring chances before the break, including shots from Meghan Menzel (Big Rock, IL) and Grace Roach (Hutchinson, MN), but could not find the back of the net and would take a 6-0 deficit into halftime.
The Falcons defense tightened up in the second half, keeping the Shock off the scoreboard again until the 82nd minute when Jaquelin Milloy got free for a shot to beat Handy. A pair of shots from Will Memeus (Everett, MA) sparked some life in the Falcons offense as they hoped to put a notch on the scoreboard, but the new Shock keeper Brittany Schultz maintained the shutout. Fisher's best opportunity to score was on a free kick from Menzel in the 84th minute, that hit the crossbar so the Falcons would have to settle for the 7-0 loss.
Handy was peppered with 28 shots from the Shock, coming up with 21 saves on the day. She really kept her team in the match as she came up with some brilliant saves. She now has 99 saves this season in just six games played. Amaguana led the Shock with three goals, while Mejia tallied four assists and a goal for six points in the victory. Fontava and Schultz combined for five saves for the shutout.
The Falcons are back to work in search of a win when they head to Becker College on Thursday. The action is set to kick off at 3pm. Video coverage of the game can be found here.