UB Women's Soccer Claims Top Seed In 2015 ECC Championship Tournament Following 1-1 Draw At Roberts Wesleyan
Team Will Look To Claim Outright Regular Season Crown With Win Or Tie At Daemen On Sunday
Rochester, N.Y.-The University of Bridgeport women's soccer team wrapped up the top seed in the 2015 East Coast Conference Championship Tournament that will begin next Thursday with a hard-fought 1-1 double overtime road ECC tie against the host Roberts Wesleyan College Redhawks on Friday night. With the draw, UB is now 15-1-1 overall and 7-0-1 in conference action. Bridgeport is unbeaten in its last 11 matches. RWC is now 10-4-2 overall and 6-1-1 in the ECC.
The visiting Purple Knights scored the first goal of the evening when junior Lauren Mengel (Gilbertsville, Pa.) scored her second goal of 2015 when she found the top right corner of the net off an assist from freshman Jess Laszlo (Stamford, Conn.) with just over six minutes to lay in the first half. Laszlo intercepted a clearing attempt by the Roberts Wesleyan and fed Mengel whose shot ws just over the outstretched fingertips of Redhawks' goalie Mary Kate Eckert, who finished the night with seven saves. UB outshot RWC, 20-14, in the contest.
The Purple Knights were just over three minutes away from winning the match, when Roberts Wesleyan tied things up at 1-1 when Courtney Hartnett picked up a loose ball off a goalmouth scramble following a free kick and found the back of the net. The Redhawks were awarded the free kick following a foul and yellow card given to UB's Julia Weidenmark (Jr., Varnamo, Sweden).
Bridgeport goalkeeper Jennifer Wendelius (Lidingo, Sweden) made saves in the match to help get the key point for her team.
Up next, the Bridgeport women's soccer team will look to claim the 2015 regular season East Coast Conference Women's Soccer title outright with either a win or a tie at Daemen College on Sunday. Game time is set for 11:00 a.m. If the Purple Knights can take at least one point on Sunday, it would be the program's sixth ECC regular season crown since 2007.