Rossignol Lifts Blazers Past Smith College

Chris Kendrick (@CKendrick86)

CHICOPEE, Mass. – The Elms College women's soccer squad recorded their first victory over visiting Smith College since 2011 with a 1-0 win at Leary Field Wednesday night. With the win, Elms improves to 4-1-1 on the season, while Smith falls to 3-2-1 overall.

The first half featured a possession game, where the Blazers controlled the ball for a majority of the period. After 32 minutes of scoreless play, Elms broke the scoreless tie as senior Michelle Rossignol (Manchester, Conn.) launched a free kick from over 25 yards out over the head of Smith sophomore goalkeeper Camryn Biasin (Lee, Mass.), to put the Blazers up 1-0 in the first half. Elms held their 1-0 lead heading into halftime.

Smith pressured the Blazers defense early in the second half until Elms regained control of possession play. The Pioneers best scoring chance came in the 69^th minute of play as Elms senior goalie Alexa Rinaudo (Bellmore, N.Y.) denied Smith sophomore Jordan Isaacs (Weston, Conn.) on the doorstep of the goal. The Blazers defensive backfield continued their solid play, limiting the chances for the Pioneers down the stretch, securing the 1-0 shutout victory for Elms.

"It was a total team effort tonight," said Elms Head Coach Sean Milbier. "We asked the team to come out and play a certain style defensively, we wanted to press the field. Smith is very good with the ball, so defensively, we wanted to pressure and we did that all over the field for 90 minutes. I was very happy with the way we played, especially defensively. We were relaxed on the ball a little bit, when you concentrate so much on defensive things, you can forget your offensive structure, but we settled down and found our feet. Western New England will be a tough match next week, they are a very well-coached team. A lot of what I've learned, I learned from Coach Dias, so we know they'll be organized, they'll be tough, and it will be a difficult match. We are looking forward to playing them, it's a little bit of a rivalry, we haven't been them in a while, so it will be a fun, tough match."

The Blazers dominated the shot column, 12-4, during the contest. Rinaudo made a pair of saves for the Blazers, while Baisin stopped a game-high eight shots for Smith.

Elms will look to remain in the win column as they host Western New England on Tuesday, September 22^nd. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. Smith travels to Clark University for a 7 p.m. tilt Friday night.

ELMS SOCCER