Women's Soccer Brings Home High-Scoring 5-2 ECC Victory Over St. Thomas Aquinas

Sparkill, N.Y.-The University of Bridgeport women's soccer team exploded on offense for five goals in the first half, four of which came in the final 10 minutes of the opening stanza, as the Purple Knights posted a 5-2 East Coast Conference road win over the host St. Thomas Aquinas College Spartans on a warm Wednesday afternoon in late October.  With the win, UB is now 14-1-0 overall, and the team remains unbeaten in conference play at 6-0.  The Purple Knights have also now won nine matches in a row.  STAC is now 3-10 overall and 1-6 in the ECC.

Bridgeport got on the scoreboard quickly on Wednesday when freshman Jess Laszlo (Stamford, Conn.) netted the first of her two goals on the day just 27 seconds into play off an assist from sophomore Hailey Marquis (Middlebury, Conn.).

The host Lady Spartans would tie things up at 1-1 at the 21:24 mark when Kelsey Ardizzone scored the first of her two goals on the afternoon.

Laszlo would then put the Purple Knights up 2-1 when she scored her team-leading sixteenth goal of 2015 with just under 10 minutes to play in the first half.

Just 35 seconds later, senior Gabby Reis (West Haven, Conn.) scored what proved to be the game-winning goal off an assist from Flo Gamby (Sr., Goffs Oaks, England).  Reis now has three goals this season.

Gamby would then score her fourth goal of the year off an assist from Jess Laszlo with 6:58 to play in the first 45 minutes.  With her two goals and one assist on Wednesday, Laszlo leads UB in points 37 points on 16 goals and five assists.

Ardizzone would then score her second goal of the day with 1:50 to play in the first half to make the Purple Knights' lead to 4-2, but junior Hanne Neby (Furnes, Norway) would put home the final goal of the afternoon for either team, and her fourth of the year, just before the halftime whistle, off an assist from sophomore Nicole Greenwald (Levittown, N.Y.).

Freshman goalkeeper Jennifer Wendelius (Lidingo, Sweden) played the first half in net for the Purple Knights making two saves to record win number 11 on the season.  Classmate Melanie Ziegner (Münster, Germany) played the second half in goal for UB and made five saves to keep the host off the scoreboard during the final 45 minutes of play.

Up next, the UB women's soccer team will continue its four-match road swing to end the 2015 regular season at Molloy College on Saturday afternoon.  ECC action is slated to begin on Long Island at 3:00 p.m.