COLLEGE
WOMEN'S SOCCER FINAL SCORE
Tufts 2, Keene State 0
At Somerville, MA
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Game
Box Score
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Cleo Hirsh and the Tufts defense limited Keene
State to one shot on goal
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SOMERVILLE -- For 81 minutes on Tuesday afternoon, the Tufts
University women's soccer team threatened to break through the
Keene State College back line. In the last nine minutes, they did
it twice. The Jumbos battled hard in their home opener and walked
away with a 2-0 victory over the Owls at Kraft Field.
Speedy senior Cara Cadigan (Nahant, MA) beat
her defender to a ball through the middle of the field and was left
free to slam it into the back of the net to give Tufts a 1-0 lead
with just under ten minutes remaining. The assist went to sophomore
Jamie Love-Nichols (Cortez, CO), who played her
beautifully into space. Cadigan and Love-Nichols had been leading
the Jumbos offensive attack all afternoon, each firing four shots
at Keene State goalie Meghan Dempsey (East Weymouth, MA).
Six minutes later, Ali Maxwell (Exeter, NH) put
the game on ice for Tufts with a great individual effort. Alone in
the right corner, the senior found herself with the ball after it
deflected off of an Owls defender. With no one in the box, Maxwell
curled the ball towards net, depositing it in the top shelf and
putting Tufts two goals ahead with very little time for Keene to
comeback.
Tufts had threatened to take the lead in the 24th minute, but
Maxwell's header clanged off the junction of the post and crossbar.
Despite a flurry of shots from the home team, the Owls hung tough
in the first half, and reached the break with the game
scoreless.
Dempsey played well in goal for Keene State, stopping seven
shots overall and keeping her team in the game. In the 57th minute,
she scrambled off her line to stop a break-away attempt by
Love-Nichols and kept the game scoreless.
In the end, however, Keene State could muster only one shot on
goal, giving Tufts' keeper Kate Minnehan (Hopkinton,
NH) very little trouble during a shutout win. The Jumbo
backline played stalwart defense all afternoon, particularly
sophomore Cleo Hirsh (Hull, MA), who battled up
and down the field for 90 minutes.
Cadigan, Love-Nichols, and Maxwell all collected their first
points of the season for the Jumbos, who evened their record at
1-1. The Jumbos will host Amherst next Saturday, while Keene State,
now 4-2, travels to Plymouth State.
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