Wheaton College women's soccer sophomore Lauren Corigliano (Roselle Park, N.J./Roselle Park) scored a pair of first-half goals on Wednesday at Mirrione Stadium, leading the third-seeded Lyons to a 2-1 victory over sixth seed Wellesley College in the opening round of the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Tournament.
Advancing to its 18th consecutive conference tournament semifinal, Wheaton will face second seed Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) on Saturday at top seed Springfield College at 3 p.m. Ranked 16th in the country and third in New England by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA), the Lyons extended their unbeaten streak to five games in improving to 16-1-4. Wellesley finishes its season at 7-11-1.
Corigliano put Wheaton in front at 30:04, when freshman Cat Amick (Vashon, Wash./Vashon Island) flicked a pass from classmate Tess Weyburne (Maynard, Mass./Maynard) for the easy finish.
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Five more Lyon shots took place, including a saved penalty kick by Wellesley sophomore goalie Claire Cerda (Coral Gables, Fla./Ransom Everglades), at 42:55 before Wheaton made the score 2-0 with just three ticks on the clock. Weyburne again connected with Corigliano, this time on a Corigliano header for her conference-best 13th goal of the season.
The Lyons took nine of the second frame's initial 11 shots, but it was Wellesley that capitalized at the 71:08 mark, as senior Megan Turchi (Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif./Tesoro) headed home a cross from freshman Riana Aylward (Bend, Ore./Summit).
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Wheaton had the better of the chances the rest of the way, including when a header from senior Cassey Muse (Candia, N.H./Central) hit the crossbar at 78:55. Lyon freshman goalie Taylor Wilson (Bellingham,Mass./Bellingham) turned aside the Blue's final attempt with four minutes to play.
Wilson finished with three saves to improve to 8-0-4, while Cerda recorded 12 stops.
Wheaton held a 27-8 advantage in shots and a 7-1 edge in corner kicks.
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