Box Score
MANSFIELD, Conn. - Eastern Connecticut State University women's soccer team was defeated 3-2 by University of Southern Maine Saturday afternoon at Rick McCarthy Field in the Little East Conference opener for both teams.
 
The regionally-ranked Huskies (5-1-1) are the two-time defending LEC champions and were ranked first in the LEC pre-season poll. The Warriors (2-5-0) were looking for their first win against the Huskies since 2019 but did manage to end a string of three straight shutout losses at the hands of USM.
 
USM took an early 2-0 lead out of the gate. Both goals were scored by senior Catriona Gould and fell into the low left of the net. The first goal was unassisted while the second was assisted by junior Devan Sherry. The first half was dominated by the Huskies pressuring defense.
 
Coming out into the second half, the Warriors changed the tempo. One bad minute for the Huskies allowed Eastern to tie the game. The first goal was scored by senior forward Haley Cocca (Stratford) and was assisted by junior Katelyn Herbert (Bethpage, NY) and senior Daria DiBiasio (Richmond, RI) in the 59^th minute. Twenty-eight seconds later, junior Lilly Simpson (Norwalk) found herself with a wide-open net and laid it in to tie the match. On the first goal, DiBiasio sent a long ball down the left sideline which Herbert caught up to and slid it into the box, where Cocca beat the last defender. On the second goal, sophomore Arianna Tomassi (Guilford) played the ball out of the back into the offensive end. USM goalie Hunter Stonebraker came well out of the box to clear it but knocked it directly to first-year player Glenda Zhiminaicela (Clinton), who one-timed it to Simpson at the top of the circle. Simpson beat one opponent to the ball and hit a sliding shot just inside the right post of a net which had been vacated by Stonebraker, who did not have time to get back to make a play.

They were the first goals of the season for Cocca and Simpson, first assist of the season for DiBiasio and first career assist for Zhiminaicela.
 
The Huskies scored the game-winning goal on Cierra Hill's head ball in close and in traffic on a long free kick by Gould with 21 minutes left. USM had a chance to add to its lead three minutes later when Makyla Magid was fouled in the box, but Eastern first-year keeper Alex Ignatowicz (Coventry) guessed correctly by diving to her left to knock away Gould's penalty kick.
 
Sophomore keeper Kaeden Dublin (Maple Grove, MN) made five saves and left at halftime on the short end of a 2-0 score while Iganatowicz made seven saves in the second half but sustained her third loss in three decisions this year.  Stonebraker  needed only one save in 90 minutes to remain unbeaten (2-0-1) this year.
 
The Huskies outshot the Warriors 24-4 and had an 8-1 margin in corner kicks.
 
The Warriors return to Rick McCarthy Field to face Connecticut College on Tuesday at 4 p.m. in a non-conference match.