September 28, 2011

BOSTON, MA – Saint Joseph's College (4-2-2, 3-1-2 GNAC) defeated Simmons College (3-6, 2-3 GNAC), 3-0, in Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) women's soccer action on Wednesday night. Freshman forward Danielle Daigle (Dayton, Maine) netted a pair of goals in the triumph.

Daigle scored her first goal of the evening just 11 seconds into the game. The Sharks responded with tough defense and pounced on loose balls in the offensive zone. Sophomore Desh Perera (Reading, Mass.) and Ally Ayotte (Litchfield, N.H.) occupied the SJC defense but were denied a tally.

Monk's Lauren Chouinard (Gorham, Maine) found the back of the net at 29:52 off a long high shot that slipped past Simmons goalkeeper Ashley Wheeler (Nashua, N.H.). The game remained at 2-0 going into the half.

The Sharks should poise in the second half, with good ball movement and were rewarded with 12 shots and three corners.  Simmons saw their best chance off a corner kick by Kristyn Heuslein (Manchester, N.H.) who found freshman Keri Acheson (Peabody, Mass.) in the box for a header that went just wide.

But Monks freshman forward Kim Jordan (Bangor, Maine) found Daigle on a 2 v 1 situation and fed her a pass which found the back of the net at the 58:11 mark.

Daigle provided some extra breathing room with her second marker of the night at the 58:11 mark when she and classmate Kim Jordan (Bangor, Maine) capitalized on a 2 v 1 scenario with Jordan earning her first career assist on the play.

The Monks and Sharks played even on the stat sheet other than the scoring. Simmons held a 25-24 edge in shots and both teams attempted four corner kicks on the evening. SJC netminder Jaci Lorenzen '14 (Windham, Maine) made eight saves to notch her second shutout of the year while Wheeler turned away 12 attempts in a losing effort.

Saint Joseph's has not allowed a goal in 284 minutes and 37 seconds of play as the side has recorded three consecutive shutouts. The Monks have not registered three straight goose-egg efforts since St. Joe's tallied five in a row late in the fall of 2008.

With the victory Saint Joseph's improves to 3-2-1 in the history of the series with Simmons College. The Monks had not defeated the Sharks since the 2008 campaign when the Royal Blue topped the conference foe by a 4-1 margin at home on October 26th.

Both programs will be on the road for conference contests this Saturday, when St. Joe's faces GNAC newcomer Anna Maria College (0-10, 0-6 GNAC) at 12:00 PM and Simmons takes on Lasell College (7-2, 6-0 GNAC) at 1:00 PM.