LORETTO, Pa. (Oct. 3, 2008) – Senior
Alanna Vespa (Ancaster, Ontario/Saint Mary’s Catholic) (Ancaster, Ontario, Canada / Saint Mary's Catholic) scored two goals and junior goalkeeper
Jessica Boyer (Pittsburgh, Pa/Mount Lebanon) (Pittsburgh, Pa. / Mount Lebanon) stopped eight shots to lead the Saint Francis women's soccer team to a 2-0 Northeast Conference opening victory over Central Connecticut State on Friday afternoon at the Stokes Soccer Complex.
The Red Flash won their NEC opener for the first time since 2005, and improved to 2-1-2 in league openers under fifth-year head coach
Brenda van Stralen. It was also SFU's first win over the Blue Devils since 2002.
Saint Francis improved to 4-3-4 with the win, while CCSU dropped to 3-4-4. The Red Flash will try to make it two NEC wins when they play host to Quinnipiac at 1 p.m. on Sunday.
“This is the start that we have been working for,” van Stralen said. “This was a great win today, but now we've got to keep going. Our work rate was fantastic. I'm very happy that we were able to put it all together.”
Vespa scored her third and fourth goals of the season – one in each half – beginning with the game's first tally at 39 minutes, 23 seconds. The ball was played into the box, where sophomore
Chelsea Traurig (McMurray, Pa./Peters Township) (McMurray, Pa. / Peters Township) was able to tap the ball back to an open
Traci Flick (Montoursville, Pa./Montoursville) (Montoursville, Pa. / Montoursville). Flick touched a pass to Vespa, who was able to put it into the right side of the net from seven yards out for a 1-0 Red Flash lead.
Senior
Marina Accordo (Rochester, N.Y./Hilton) (Rochester, N.Y. / Hilton) started the game's second goal by sending a pass down the right side to Vespa. Vespa chipped a shot from 20 yards out that hit the ground in front of goalkeeper Erin Herd and then bounced over her head into the left side of the goal to make it 2-0 at 68:11.
The teams were even in shots at 12-12, while SFU held a 4-2 edge in corner kicks. Herd stopped four shots for the Blue Devils, while Boyer registered her second shutout of the season with eight saves.
