Box Score BEVERLY, Mass. – Sharlotte Pernice broke a tie 8:35 into sudden-death overtime to lift the Endicott College women's soccer team to a 2-1 non-conference victory over Eastern Connecticut State University Sunday afternoon at Hempstead Stadium.
The win is the fourth straight for Endicott (11-4-1), which closed out its regular-season home record with eight wins against one loss. Eastern (7-7-3) drops back to .500 for the sixth time this year and finishes its regular-season road record at 3-3-3.
The teams traded goals 2:36 apart early in the second half, senior Anna Manser's (Manchester) second goal of the year off junior Kaley Pratt's (Milford, MA) corner kick, giving Eastern short-lived lead before Rachel Hanna beat Eastern sophomore keeper Sarah Fahey (Auburn, MA) on rebound of a saved header for her 14th goal of the season. The teams played nearly 50 minutes of scoreless soccer the rest of the way before Pernice's drive made a loser of Eastern freshman Makeda Bailey (East Hartford) in her collegiate debut.
With the exception of starter Kayla Labrecque (Westhampton, MA), all of Eastern's keepers saw action, with sophomore Erin Collins (Millis, MA) making her second start of the year, and Fahey and freshman Rachel Videira (Oxford) seeing action for the second time this year. Bailey protected the 1-1 tie over the final 14 minutes of regulation and through 8+ minutes of the maximum 20 minutes of sudden death. Fahey was credited with the only save.
The Eastern defense did not allow a corner kick and required its four keepers to make only one save, and the offense outshot Endicott 15-7.
With the exception of Labrecque, all of Eastern's healthy roster players logged at least 20 minutes. Junior Tara Shayler (Avon) made her first start in five weeks following an injury.
Like Eastern (5-0-1 LEC), Endicott shows an undefeated (7-0-1) record in its conference, the Commonwealth Coast Conference.
Eastern looks to close out its third straight undefeated Little East Conference regular season when its hosts the University of Southern Maine (4-11, 1-5 LEC) in its regular-season finale Saturday at 1 p.m. at Thomas Nevers Field.
Outright regular-season champions the last two years, Eastern will clinch no worse than a tie for first place with a victory against USM. Defending LEC playoff champ Western Connecticut (5-0-1 LEC) visits UMass Boston (3-2-1 LEC) Saturday. Since losing twice to the Huskies in 2000, the Warriors have won 17 in a row, nine of them (including the last four) by shutout.
