DANBURY, Conn.  – The Western Connecticut State University women's soccer team recorded its ninth consecutive victory, surrendering only three goals during those nine games, with a 5-0 win over Little East Conference rival Southern Maine University Saturday afternoon at the Westside Athletic Complex.

         After dominating play for the opening 10 minutes, taking the game's first eight shots, Western got on the board when the DeVoe sisters executed a well-planned corner-kick play.

         Sophomore Celia DeVoe (Farmington, Conn.) took the corner kick and delivered a short pass to freshman Andrea DeVoe (Farmington, Conn.).  Andrea drew the attention of a defender before passing the ball back to Celia, who worked to improve her angle before beating the Southern Maine keeper with a high, cross-cage shot to give Western a 1-0 lead.

         At the 32:07 mark, junior Emily Newhard (Wallingford, Conn.) attacked the middle of the Southern Maine defense, and delivered a pass to senior Sarah Menta (Newington, Conn.) who was racing into the left side of the box, about 15 yards away from the Husky goal.  Menta drilled her shot high into the near-side corner of the cage to extend the Colonial lead to 2-0.

         At the half, Western held an 18-2 edge in shots, and had a 2-0 lead on the scoreboard.

         Early in the second half, Newhard gave Western a little breathing room and a 3-0 lead.   The play began with sophomore Autumn Sorice (Bethel, Conn.) bringing the ball deep into the Southern Maine end, near the left corner of the field.  After dribbling around one defender, Sorice passed to Newhard in the middle of the box, about 20 yards away from the goal.  Newhard settled the ball quickly and delivered a shot that caromed off both the crossbar and the right post before crossing the goal-line.

         Sophomore Lindsay Jossick (Newtown, Conn.) added to the Western lead with a goal at the 55:29 mark, off a pass from Sorice.

Four minutes later, freshman Samantha Carbonell (Berlin, Conn.) blasted a shot from 30 yards out that went over the outstretched hands of the Southern Maine keeper, giving Western its final margin of victory, 5-0.  For the game, Western held a 33-3 advantage in shots, and had a 9-1 edge in corner kicks. 

Western's freshman keeper Jillian Fernandez (Columbia, Conn.) was never tested in the first half, but made one second-half save to pick up the win, before being replaced for the final 12 minutes by freshman Abby Benner (Newington, Conn.).  Sophomore Marissa Temple (Grafton, Mass.) made 14 saves in a losing effort for Southern Maine.

With the win, Western improves to 12-4 on the season, and 5-0 in the Little East Conference.  Southern Maine falls to 2-12-1, 0-5 in the LEC.  The Colonials return to action on Wednesday, October 22, when they travel to play a non-conference game against Kean University.  Game time is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Southern Maine remains on the road for its next contest.  The Huskies will face UMaine Farmington on Tuesday (3:00 p.m.). 

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