By Cullen McIntyre, Staff Writer
The Women’s Soccer season will be one to remember for the Huskies. In Head Coach Seth Benjamin’s first season with the team, the Huskies won a record 14 games, while losing just five and tying one. The team had a great performance all season, scoring 45 goals in 20 games all year.
Women’s Soccer kicked off the season with a dominant 10-0 win over Mitchell College, and continued to dominate the rest of the season from there on. The Huskies would win three games in double overtime, including an exciting 5-4 victory over the University of Maine at Farmington where sophomore Abigail Mazza would slot the ball to the far post past the goalie to win the game.
Finishing the season with a 5-3 conference record, the Huskies finished fourth in the Little Eastern Conference. The first playoff game saw them face off with the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, who finished their season 7-8-5 record overall, and a 3-2-3 conference record. The Huskies did not take any time at all to get on the scoresheet, as junior Ciera Berthiaume would receive the ball from senior Emma Dennison, and place the ball past the goalie into the far post in the third minute. Berthiaume would grab her brace six minutes later following a goal kick, she would skip past two defenders flicking the ball over the goalie and calmly placing the ball into the back of the net to make it 2-0. The junior forward would record her first career hat-trick in the 51st minute after freshman midfielder Alexandria Allain would play her through on goal, Berthiaume would beat two defenders and loft the ball to the far post to secure the Huskies 3-0 win over the Corsairs.
Following the 3-0 win at home, the Huskies headed to the Little Eastern Conference Semifinal to face the first place Western Connecticut State University Colonials. Coming into the game WestConn had a bye in the first round, and were defending their Little Eastern Conference title. The Huskies would keep the Colonials at bay in the first half, finishing 0-0. But WestConn would grab their first goal ten minutes into the second half, and would extend their lead to 2-0 in the 72 minute. The 2-0 scoreline would see the Huskies out of the playoffs, and the Colonials onto the final where they would beat the University of Massachusetts Boston 2-0 to win consecutive Little Eastern Conference titles.
The Huskies have two players named in the Little Eastern Conference Second Team, junior forward Ciera Berthiaume and freshman midfielder Alexandria Allain. Berthiaume lead the team in scoring, along with third in scoring in the Little Eastern Conference, with 13 goals and seven assists on the year, while Allain was the second leading scorer with seven goals and seven assists. Berthiaume was named the Little Eastern Conference Offensive Player of the Week twice, while Allain was named the Little Eastern Conference Rookie of the Week twice. Head Coach Seth Benjamin would be named the Little Eastern Conference Coach of the Year in his first season following the program’s 14 wins, and strong playoff run.