Box Score MANSFIELD, Conn. – Sophomore forward Hailey Lehning (Woodbury) assisted on the tying goal and scored the go-ahead one on her only shot of the match to lift the Eastern Connecticut State University women's soccer team to a 2-1 victory over No. 1 regionally-ranked Amherst College Wednesday night at the Mansfield Outdoor Complex.
At right: Hailey Lehning (left) celebrates her game-winning goal with her teammates Wednesday night as Eastern stunned New England's top-ranked team, 2-1, at the Mansfield Outdoor Complex. (Photo by Nick Aconfora)
Four days after a 4-1 Little East Conference loss at the University of Massachusetts Boston, Eastern (6-5-1) rebounded in this non-conference match to end the six-game winning streak of Amherst (8-2-0), ranked first in New England and ninth in Division III.
"I'm so proud of my team," said Lehning afterward. "We've wanted this for awhile and we've worked really hard. We won almost every single ball. We played our hearts out."
Freshman forward Emily Becher's (Brooklyn) team-leading seventh goal of the season from in close on a long pass from Lehning tied the match with 16 minutes left, and Lehning knocked in what proved to be the winning goal with 6:03 left with a header from the center of the box on a perfectly-struck corner kick from freshman back Maggie Bodington (Stratford), who recorded her first career assist.
Having allowed only two goals in their first nine matches, the Lord Jeffs took an early lead in the 14th minute on freshman forward Hannah Guzzi's team-leading seventh goal of the season on a blast from 15 yards which settled under the crossbar. Guzzi, who was a threat throughout the game, took her team's first three shots and totaled eight of her club's game total of 14.
Eastern had dropped four of its previous five contests following a 4-1-1 start and was outplayed throughout most of the first half, when the guests amassed an 8-1 shot advantage.
Amherst threatened mostly with long-range shots in the match. Moments before putting her team up 1-0, Guzzi let go of a blast from 18 yards that sailed high of the target. With her team leading 1-0, Amherst sophomore midfielder Emily Hester came off the bench to launch a 22-year drive in space that caromed off the crossbar with 12 minutes left in the first half.
At left: Joanna Weir (middle) is hemmed in by Quinn Phillips (8) and Emily Masten (27) in Wednesday's 2-1 victory over Amherst College. (Photo by Liam Murphy)
Trying to protect her team's one goal lead, freshman midfielder Delancey King again threatened from long range for the Lord Jeffs 14 minutes into the second half, but Eastern junior keeper Rachel Skelton (East Lyme) leapt to get a hand on the ball at the right post and knock in out of bounds.
Twelve minutes before she gained the qualizer for Eastern, Becher came off the bench 17 minutes into the second half and nailed a perfect through-ball from Lehning with a left-footed attempted that just ran wide of the left post.
Amherst outshot Eastern, 14-4, with Skelton making four saves for her third win in net. Junior keeper Holly Burwick, who featured a 0.24 goals-against average and .955 save percentage through nine matches, made just one save on three balls on net.
Eastern returns to Little East Conference action Saturday, visiting the University of Southern Maine at 1 p.m.
