BOSTON, Mass. – Competing against a team coming off a 2-11-3 season and playing its first match under first-year head coach Sarah Tompkins, the Eastern Connecticut State University women's soccer team would have loved to open its 2022 season with a win Saturday against Wentworth Institution of Technology at Sweeney Field, but was able to settle for a tie.
 
The Warriors scored their eighth unanswered goal against Wentworth (1-0-1) in the three-game all-time series on sophomore forward Briley Harnois' (Attleboro, MA) penalty kick goal in the 17^th minute awarded for a hand ball in the box– her seventh goal in only her 18^th career match – before  sophomore forward Jenny Montville evened it with eight minutes left in the first half as the teams played to a 1-1 tie.
 
Wentworth (1-0-1) was coming off its first opening win in six years but had not scored in the all-time series against the Warriors until Montville beat Eastern junior keeper Emily Wallace (Smithtown, NY) with a high shot. In her fifth career start, Wallace was credited with six saves.
 
Eastern plays the second of four opening non-conference matches Tuesday at Fitchburg State University before hosting Babson College in its only home match within the first three weeks of the season Sept. 10 at 4 p.m.
 
The Warriors have won all eight meetings (the last five by shutout) with Fitchburg in the series which began in 2009, and have outscored the Falcons, 26-1. In last year's 5-0 victory at Rick McCarthy Field, graduated midfielder Haley Montesanto scored three goals in nine minutes late in the game and the Warriors had a 25-2 advantage in shots.