DANBURY, Conn. - The Western Connecticut State University women's soccer team fell victim to a rally from non-league foe Rivier University as the visitors overcame a second-half deficit to hand the hosts a 2-1 setback in a physical, back-and-forth battle at the Westside Athletic Complex on Tuesday night.
WestConn broke the scoreless deadlock in the 37th minute when junior Shannon Anderson (New Milford, Conn.) buried her first goal of the match — and third of the season — off a feed from sophomore Delaney Israel (Medford, N.Y.), sending the Wolves into halftime with a 1-0 edge.
Rivier flipped the script in the second half. Junior Ciarra Terry (Harwich, Mass.) leveled the score in the 52nd minute off an assist from classmate Leah Morrier (Plaistow, N.H.), and junior Hannah Smith (Biddeford, Maine) put the Raiders ahead for good in the 64th minute, capping a stretch in which Rivier peppered the WestConn goal — Morrier alone hit the crossbar twice in the match, and Terry rattled the post early in the second half.
Senior goalkeeper Gracen Regan (Monroe, N.J.) kept WestConn in it with five saves, but the Raiders outshot the Wolves 14-9 over the full 90 minutes. WestConn got its best second-half looks from sophomore Gabriella Smith (Terryville, Conn.), whose shot went high, and late blocked attempts from senior Abigail Corcoran (Newington, Conn.) and classmate Jasmine Islami (Bethel, Conn.), who also set up several of the Wolves' five corner kicks.
The match had an edge to it throughout, with three yellow cards shown. The loss drops WestConn to 2-2-2 on the season, while Rivier improves to 2-1-1. The Wolves will seek to rebound when they open Little East Conference play at Vermont State University Castleton on Saturday at Noon.
