Box Score DANBURY, Conn. -- Junior midfielder Hailey Lehning (Woodbury) scored the only goal of the match 11 minutes into the second half and senior keeper Rachel Skelton (East Lyme) made four saves for her 11th career shutout when the Eastern Connecticut State University women's soccer team edged Western Connecticut State University in a Little East Conference match Saturday night at the Westside Athletic Complex.
By beating Western (5-3-1, 0-1-1 LEC) on the Colonials' field for the fourth time in the last five tries, Eastern (5-2-1, 2-0-0) maintains a share of first place in the conference with defending LEC playoff champion Keene State College and the University of Massachusetts Boston, which shared last year's LEC regular-season title with Western. Western was picked first in this year's LEC pre-season poll, Eastern third.
Lehning scored her second goal of the season on an assist from All-New England sophomore forward Emily Becher (Brooklyn), and Skelton made all four of her saves in the second half to preserve the victory. Since going 0-8-2 against Western on the Colonials' home field, the Warriors four 4-1 in their last five.
Conference scoring leader Autumn Sorice, a sophomore transfer from the University of Connecticut, threatened by taking seven of her team's 12 shots -- forcing Skelton to come up with three saves -- but was held off the board.
The 1-0 decision was the seventh in the last six years between the two teams, Eastern winning for the fifth time Saturday.
Eastern hosts Connecticut College Tuesday at 7 p.m.
