Box Score GARDEN CITY, N.Y. – The Wolves 2014 soccer season came to a heartbreaking end on Friday night as they dropped a tightly contested match to Southern Connecticut State University 2-1 in the semifinals of the East Coast Athletic Conference Division II tournament.
Gabrielle Brodie (Rolleston, Canterbury, New Zealand) scored the lone goal for Newberry (10-5-4) in the 29th minute to answer the Owls (11-6-1) after Newberry went down 1-0 in 21st minute. The Wolves outshot Southern Connecticut 14-10 on the night with a 6-5 edge in shots on goal.
Newberry got things going as they maintained possession early and got the first four shots of the game off after the 17th minute. Senior midfielder Brayden Miller (Lyman, S.C.) had two shots with one of them forcing a save from Erica Friel. Her other shot along with one by Amber Sanchez (Tujunga, Calif.) both went wide.
Southern Connecticut responded in the 22nd minute as they opened the scoring. Victoria Buonanni got a rebounded shot that was initially saved by Alexis Carrillo (La Puente, Calif.) and finished it into the bottom left corner.
Brodie wouldn’t let the Wolves trail for long as the three time first team all-SAC selection she put home her eighth goal of the season just eight minutes later. Guadalupe Magana (Santa Paula, Calif.) had the assist as she played a good ball into Brodie who had a beautiful chip over the Owls goalkeeper and into the back of the net.
The game quieted after the two goal burst as there were only three more shots in the first half with one on goal forcing a Carrillo save as the teams went to the break tied, 1-1.
Newberry tried mightily in the second half to go ahead as they held most of the possession but it was the Owls who would get the game winner. Hannah Bodner fired a shot from the right side of the field just outside of the penalty box to put them up 2-1.
For the last 20 minutes Newberry forced the Owls to lock down defensively as Newberry forced the Owls keeper to make four saves to stave them off. Senior Sarah Sager (Saugus, Calif.) had the best chance to tie it up and force overtime but after a nice run into the box saw her about six yards out, the Owls cleared it with less than 30 seconds remaining to end it.
The loss brought head coach Deedee Sanguinetti’s highly successful first season to an end. Newberry had four players earn all-SAC honors on offense and defense. Sanguinetti was named the SAC Coach of the Year and the team reached the conference tournament semifinals for only the third time in school history.
Newberry finished the regular season ranked No. 6 in the NCAA DII Southeast Regional Poll as well as the NSCAA/Continental Tire Southeast Regional Poll.
