Natalie Canterbury
  • Pre Medical Biology
  • Class of 2018
  • New Hartford, CT

Southern Vermont Blanks Dean 5-0 on Senior Day - NECC

2017 Oct 23

The Southern Vermont College women's soccer records continue to fall as the Mountaineers defeated Dean College 5-0 Saturday afternoon in New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) action at Everett Field.

SVC scored four times in the final 25 minutes of the first half-including three in a span of 2:37 of clock time-to bring a comfortable cushion into the break. The Mountaineers then added one more in the second stanza while keeping the Bulldogs off the board through the final whistle.

Southern Vermont improves to 10-4-1 on the season and 5-1-1 in league play with the win. It was the team's eighth shutout of the year-tying the program record for the most clean sheets in a single season which was set in 2015. It also marked the first time in team history that the Mountaineers will finish the regular season with an undefeated record at home (5-0-1).

SVC has one final match on the docket before the postseason starts-that being a 3 p.m. NECC match at Bay Path University on Wednesday; Southern Vermont will then host its third-straight first-round playoff game on Saturday, October 28 with the time and opponent to be determined. The Bulldogs (3-12, 2-5 NECC) wrap up their 2017 campaign on Wednesday when they head to Newbury College for a 3 p.m. league contest.

Prior to the start of their last regular season game on the SVC campus, seniors Natalie Rose Canterbury (New Hartford, Conn.), Melissa Mascari (Saratoga Springs, N.Y.), and Paige Vitale (Port Jervis, N.Y.) were recognized and honored for their dedication to the program during their collegiate careers.

Mascari had a memorable day as she made three saves in net while breaking the Southern Vermont record for the most shutouts in a single season-her eighth surpassing the mark set by Mountaineer Hall of Famer Denise Welch '97 in 1994. Mascari also helped herself offensively by scoring her first collegiate goal when she converted on a penalty kick in the opening half to make it a 2-0 lead.

SVC junior Ally McNamee (Freehold, N.J.) had two goals and an assist in the win while sophomore Dani Biggers' (Broadalbin, N.Y.) first goal of the year proved to be the game winner.

The Southern Vermont defense limited Dean to seven shots through the course of the game with just three of those being on net. Mascari and the Mountaineer back unit have allowed only one score in the team's last 875:35 of action while bolstering a Conference-leading 0.58 goals against average for the campaign.

Bulldog sophomore keeper Macy Parisee (East Freetown, Mass.) turned away eight Mountaineer shots in the loss (1-8).

The front-end of the first half did not see a lot of action as play was contained to the middle third of the pitch for the most of it. Southern Vermont started to get its offense clicking at the 20:00 mark and then found the back of the net for all the hosts needed for the win. Shortly after SVC took a corner kick from the left side, the ball ended up on the opposite touchline where freshman Nicole Shapiro (New Windsor, N.Y.) collected it; she played a touch around her defender and met it from the other side in space before sending a cross in towards the near side of the frame. Biggers ran on and beat Parisee to it, and she quickly slotted a shot inside the post to make it 1-0.

About 18 minutes later, a Mountaineer would get dragged down in the left side of the box for the penalty to be called. Mascari was selected to hit it on her Senior Day, and the netminder calmly laced her take into the lower-left corner of the cage during the 39th minute.

Just 1:28 after play resumed, McNamee got her first of the day to make it a 3-0 tally. Freshman Rileigh Griffiths (Milford, N.Y.) was sent down to the right corner of the pitch with a great pass, and she took one touch to beat a Bulldog defender before sending a cross to the backside of the goal area; McNamee knocked it down and ripped a shot-one that glanced off an outstretch Parisee and carried into the right side of the frame for her third of the season.

It was only 1:09 later that SVC changed the scoreboard once again. A corner kick was sent in from the right side to McNamee who was waiting in the same spot; she fired a take which was turned away, but sophomore Juliena D'Alessio (Berlin, N.Y.) was right there on the doorstep to knock in her first of the year.

The 4-0 difference lasted through halftime and 21:47 of the second period before McNamee chalked up her fourth of the year with the day's final strike. After the Mountaineers connected a few passes down the right side of the field, sophomore Taylor Mallett (Berwick, Maine) collected the ball and cut around a Bulldog defender. She then laid it off to McNamee who took a touch and let it fly from about 25 yards out; the shot caromed off the bottom of the crossbar and dropped over the goal line for the sophomore's second of the match.

- #LetsGoSVC -