Syracuse, N.Y. – The Le Moyne women's soccer team recorded a season-high 11 shots on Sunday at Ted Grant Field against Howard University in their Northeast Conference opener, but the visiting Bison scored the game's lone goal in the 42^nd minute to claim a 1-0 win and three points in the NEC standings.

The Dolphins outshot the Bison 11-9, and they registered nine shots during the first 45 minutes. Le Moyne drew 17 fouls, and committed just five during the match.

Howard broke the 0-0 tie a few minutes before halftime, when junior forward Melea Earley received a pass in the right side of Le Moyne's penalty area, turned and found the feet of sophomore midfielder Leah Williams, who drove the ball into the upper right corner of the Le Moyne goal with her first touch.

"First of all, congratulations and credit to Howard, who did what they needed to do to get the result out of this game. Having said that, I thought that was the best game our team has played at the Division I level, and I will go back even to the last year at the Division II level. Since we've been here, that was the best all-around performance by the team," said Le Moyne head coach Jaro Zawislan after the match. "Yes, there is still a lot of work to be done, however we feel like today was a very important day for this program, for this team, for the student-athletes to show that they not only can compete in the Northeast Conference, but for large parts of the game, especially in the first half, we felt like we dominated play.

"We're not big on statistics because eventually the most important statistic is the final score, but in the first half, with regards to possession and the chances created, we generated good enough momentum to get more out of the first 45 minutes. Unfortunately, soccer can be a cruel game, and today we were on that cruel side of the game. Just as we were going with the momentum, during the best spell that we had, all of a sudden we give up a goal. Credit to our players, they never gave up, came out in the second half, the game was a little bit more balanced. The final result, it's not what we strive for, it's a disappointing result, but we are very proud of our players, what they have done today. There are a lot of positive to build on," Zawislan added.

Le Moyne graduate goalkeeper Allison Moreau (Sauquoit, N.Y./Sauquoit Valley) recorded three saves during the game, while sophomore midfielder Alaina Carro (Holland Patent, N.Y./Holland Patent/Wheeling), sophomore midfielder Lindsey LeBlanc (Westminster, Mass./St. Bernard's), and junior forward Autumn Edwards (Greece, N.Y./Hilton/Monroe) each recorded a team-best two shots, with all three players recording a shot on goal.

The Bison, who defeated NEC side Delaware State on Thursday by a score of 2-0, improved their conference record to 2-0 with the win in Syracuse. Howard's 6-2-1 overall record so far in 2023 gives them the best winning percentage among the 11 NEC women's soccer programs.

During the match, sophomore midfielder Jadyn Kantak (Baldwinsville, N.Y./C.W. Baker) made her first start of the season, and sophomore forward Avery Maxam (Clinton, N.Y./Clinton) made her season debut, playing 54 minutes off the bench.

The Dolphins allowed just four shots on goal during the game, which is the second-lowest total of shots on goal that they have held an opponent to this season. They previously allowed just one shot on goal at Iona.
 
The Le Moyne women's soccer team will return to action on Thursday when they host NEC foe Stonehill College at Ted Grant Field for a 3:00 p.m. match.

Match Highlights:
The Dolphins created their first chance of the game in the fifth minute, when freshman midfielder Giovanna Vigliotti (Camillus, N.Y./West Genesee), who made her second start of the season during the match, got past her defender on the left wing, dribbled into the left side of the Howard penalty area, and sent a cross in the air towards the edge of the six-yard box for fellow rookie Hope Adigun (Clay, N.Y./Liverpool), who's header went over the crossbar and out of bounds for a goal kick.

With just over 33 minutes left in the first half, following a Le Moyne throw in on the left side of the field, LeBlanc ran onto the ball in the Howard penalty area and hit a left-footed shot that went just wide of the left post.

Less than a minute later, Earley chased down a throw in in the right side of Howard's attacking third and tapped the ball to an overlapping Kyra Bolden, who sent a cross into the air towards the edge of the six-yard box. Freshman forward Mimi Richards redirected the ball onto goal with her right foot, but Moreau was there to make the save.

With 29:30 left in the first half, some one-touch passing from Carro and sophomore defender Lara Lobe (Trebnje, Slovenia/Gymnasium Novo mesto) sent Maxam into space in the right side of Le Moyne's attacking third. Maxam, who was named to the Northeast-10 Conference All-Rookie Team last season, took two touches forward then hit a right-footed shot from just outside the 18-yard box that touched the crossbar but continued flying out of bounds for a goal kick.

In the 18^th minute, LeBlanc received the ball on the left wing, made a move past a Howard defender into the penalty area, and just before the ball reached the goal line she sent a hard cross towards the far post that was knocked away by the Howard goalkeeper for a corner kick.

LeBlanc once again cut through the Howard defense from the left wing in the 36^th minute. She took a touch past a defender into the penalty area, and was able to poke a shot on goal while absorbing contact from a secondary defender, but Howard's Trinity Knox kept the low shot in front of her and picked up the ball to record her third save of the opening half.

Following a Le Moyne throw in from the right sideline with a little over six minutes remaining in the first half, the ball bounced to Carro at the top corner of the 18-yard box. With her first touch, Carro curled a shot towards the upper left corner of the Howard goal with her left foot, but the ball flew just wide of the goal frame.

The Dolphins earned a free kick just outside the Howard 18-yard box in the 44^th minute, but the attempt was blocked by a Howard defender.

A little over seven minutes into the second half, LeBlanc earned a free kick for the Dolphins just outside the Howard 18-yard box. Carro drove a low shot on goal that was scooped up by Knox.

One minute later, the Bison sent a long pass down the right wing for junior defender Rachel Asare, who played a dangerous ball on the ground towards the edge of the six-yard box for Earley, who made a run towards the goal mouth. Earley tried to put a shot on goal with her first touch, but Lobe made a great sliding tackle to thwart the opportunity.

In the 65^th minute, Earley made a run into the right side of Le Moyne's penalty and ripped a low shot towards the bottom left corner of the Le Moyne goal, but Moreau dove to her right and deflected the shot away from goal for a corner kick.

With a little over 25 minutes remaining in the second half, following a Le Moyne corner kick, Carro sent a pass over the defense towards the upper corner of the Howard six-yard box for junior defender Brooke Wilson (Rochester, N.Y./Hilton) who hit a left-footed shot that went across the goal mouth and back towards the right side of the field.

"Looking back at the game, we felt that we did enough today to get something out of it, at least a tie. We are not taking anything away from Howard, which again did what they needed to do to get the result. They created some chances, but with our performance, with the chances we created, the momentum generated by our team, especially in the first half, we felt we did enough to get something out of this game. We will analyze the game over the next couple of days, and start preparing for Stonehill," said Zawislan.

"This process is not over, this is just the beginning of a new season, 10-game season in the Northeast Conference. We have everything to play for. During this process there will ups and downs, peaks and valleys for the team, and even for individual players. Our job as the coaching staff is to keep putting the team, our players into the best position to have a chance to succeed, to get the positive result. During this process, there have been some great individual stories of players that have started the games, played major minutes and have grown to be Division I athletes over the time because they adjusted to this level of play and they keep improving.  But also, there are some new players receiving greater minutes, that have made the jump to the next level of play on both sides of the ball, and that's what we've been constantly doing. As coaches, we've been providing the environment where each player is pushed a little bit out of their comfort zone and then in many cases, as they are out of their comfort zone, they get used to this higher-level environment, and they keep getting better. The results are showing where now we have enough players stepping up to that level where we can actually generate some momentum and dominate a game in quite a few moments, and we'll continue to do that… The future is bright," Le Moyne's head coach concluded.