DANBURY, Conn. — In less than 90 seconds, rookie Madelyn Dwyer (Poughquag, N.Y.) netted the first goal of the contest as the No. 4 Western Connecticut State University women's soccer team sent the No. 5 Rhode Island College packing in the opening round of the Little East Conference (LEC) Championship Tournament at Westside Stadium on Saturday. She eventually tallied the game-winner 50 minutes later in her first career multi-goal game. The Wolves improved to 12-7-2 overall, while the Anchorwoman concluded their season with a 9-7-1 record. The Wolves play on as they face No. 1 Eastern Connecticut State University on the road on Wednesday at 4 p.m.

After a saved shot by Dwyer at 1:09 in the first half, the forward found the back of the net seven seconds later for the Wolves' first tally of the night. The visitors' goalkeeper Oceanna Orlandi batted the ball away, but the Wolves maintained possession as Hannah Blacher (Allendale, N.J.) recovered it before setting up Dwyer's first goal of the game. RIC only had one shot on goal through the first 45 minutes as Hannah Rezendes attempted the equalizer, but Gracen Regan (Monroe, N.J. ) was there to stop it.

In the 52nd minute, Dwyer delivered the insurance goal WestConn needed for the eventual winner, this time from the boot of Shannon Anderson (New Milford, Conn.). Anderson delivered a long boot pass from midfield to a sprinting Dwyer in the attacking zone, where the first-year battled one-on-one with an Anchorwoman and won it in the process. Orlandi crept too far out of the net for RIC, which allowed Dwyer to outmaneuver the goalkeeper, run past her with the freedom to find the twine on a wide-open shot.

The hosts padded their lead to 3-0 with the goal from Anderson off of Blacher's corner kick at 70:20 in the second half. The Wolves drew a corner kick on the left side of the net and gave Anderson the perfect opportunity to spearhead the ball over Orlandi's head for the three-goal advantage.

A minute later, a hand ball call inside the scoring zone gave RIC the penalty kick opportunity, which resulted in the Anchorwoman's only notch of the night. With five minutes remaining in regulation, Blacher brought in another corner kick, but it was booted away by an RIC defender. Thankfully, Jordan Breier (Deer Park, N.Y.) was there to regain possession with a short pass — her first assist this season — to Sophia Onek (Lake Ronkonkoma, N.Y.) through traffic and set up the Wolves' final goal of the game.

WestConn outshot RIC 23-7 and had a 13-5 shots on goal advantage. Regan had four saves in the net for the Wolves, while Orlandi denied nine,