10/21/2008
Second Half Surge Leads Mount Holyoke Past Women's Soccer

SOUTH HADLEY, Mass. (Oct. 21, 2008)  Mount Holyoke broke a 1-1 halftime game with two second half goals en route to a 3-1 New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) victory over Clark University in a women's soccer game played on Tuesday.

Junior forward Lauren Orr (Fullerton, Calif./Fullerton Union) racked up two goals and one assist to power MHC. It was the Lyons second win in their last four outings. Both victories have come against NEWMAC opponents.

The teams went scoreless until the 24th minute, when Orr tallied her first goal of the evening. The goal was set up by sophomore forward Jacquelyn Archibald (Marshfield, Mass./Marshfield ), who slipped a pass just past a Clark defender to a wide open Orr in the box. Orr collected the feed and beat Cougars junior goalkeeper Joanna Clark (Windham, Maine/Windham).

Clark responded just over eight minutes later, when sophomore forward Kristen Murrone (Middletown, Conn./Mercy) scored off an assist from senior midfielder Maria Arabatzis (Saco, Maine/Thornton Academy). Arabatzis started the play with a cross into the box from the right side. Mount Holyoke junior goalkeeper Elaine Harvey (Boston, Mass./St. Mark's) came off her line to cut off the pass but misplayed the ball. Murrone capitalized by gathering the loose ball and depositing it into the vacated net.

Neither team scored again until the 63rd minute, when Orr found the net for what proved to be the match winner. After collecting a crossing pass from sophomore midfielder Yuko Takahashi (Tochigi, Japan/Saitama University), she snapped a shot over Clark into the top of the net from point blank range. It was her seventh marker of the 2008 campaign.

The Cougars put the pressure on down the stretch but were unable to penetrate Mount Holyoke's defense.

Takahashi tacked on her team leading eight goal of the season in the waning seconds to put things away for the Lyons. After receiving a short pass from Orr in the box, she dribbled around a defender and ripped a shot past Clark.

Clark fell despite advantages in both shots (14-6) and corner kicks (4-1).

Harvey accumulated five saves en route to her fifth win of the season. At the other end, Clark stopped a pair of shots for the guests.

Both squads will resume their NEWMAC schedules on Saturday. Mount Holyoke (5-10-0, 2-5-0 NEWMAC) will travel to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology at 11:30 a.m., while Clark (6-8-0, 3-4-0 NEWMAC) will host Wellesley College at noon.

Courtesy of Mount Holyoke Sports Information