September 21, 2006 Issue                                       

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©2006 The Chestnut Hill Local

Chestnut Hill College men and women down D’Youville
by TOM UTESCHER

Chestnut Hill College’s #20, Andrew Thorne, a freshman forward, is the team’s leading scorer, and was named North Eastern Athletic Conference Student-Athlete of the Week for the week ending Sept. 10. For more photos visit www.chlocalphotos.com. (Photo by Jimmy J. Pack Jr.)

Although last Sunday’s “home” doubleheader ended up being played off-campus, both Chestnut Hill College soccer teams chalked up conference wins against visiting D’Youville College.

The male Griffins (4-2 overall, 2-1 in the North Eastern Athletic Conference) charged to a 4-0 lead and continued on to an 8-2 victory over the Spartans, while the CHC women (4-1-1, 3-0 in NEAC) had to snap a 1-1 halftime tie in order to triumph, 3-1.

The men’s team started out last week with a 7-0 romp at Bryn Athyn College on Tuesday afternoon. Freshman Yannick Wallace recorded a hat trick in the non-conference win.

At CHC the following day, the women’s squad suffered its first loss of the 2006 season, falling to Washington College (MD), 1-0. Washington’s Lindsay Fox scored the game’s only goal early in the second half on a 35-yard shot from out near the right sideline.

Both Griffins teams headed up to New York on Saturday for conference games against Cazenovia College. CHC’s opening goal by Amanda Favreau was matched by the Cazenovia women, then Stephanie Williams scored for the locals to give the Griffins a 2-1 victory. Their male counterparts did not fare as well, digging themselves a hole as Cazenovia found the net on each of its first three shots of the day. Markers by Andrew Thorne and Carlos Navarrete weren’t enough to save CHC from a 3-2 setback.

A soggy field at Chestnut Hill caused Sunday’s twin bill with D’Youville to be moved to the artificial turf facility at Eastern University in Radnor. In the opener, the first four goals of the day belonged to the Griffins; two by Thorne, and one each by Navarrete and Matt Gallo.

The Spartans finally got on the board with a strike by Austin Beesong, then a pair of goals by Wallace sent the hosts into halftime with a 6-1 advantage. All of the Griffins’ goals had come from freshmen, but in the second half juniors Mike Ritter and Jeff Lewin got into the act, putting the hosts ahead 8-1 midway through the second half.

D’Youville managed a second goal before the final horn, and at the other end of the field, the Spartans got seven saves from keeper Matt Patrick. CHC’s starting goaltender, Matt Henigan, made two stops, and later Adley Amzovski recorded one save in relief.

When the women took the field, it soon became apparent that D’Youville had a quick and skilled striker in Amy Zima, but the CHC defense was lax in marking the Spartans junior until she beat them for the opening goal of the game. Zima struck with 13:46 remaining in the first period on a breakaway, the kind of play where the visitors posed the greatest threat to score.

The Griffins, exhibiting better ball control in their passing game, outshot their guests 18-7 in the first half, and they tied the match two minutes before the intermission. A hand-ball in the box was called on

D’Youville, and Chestnut Hill’s Maureen Dugan aimed into the left edge of the cage for the equalizer.

CHC continued to fire at a faster pace than the Spartans (the shot totals were 19-4 in the second half), and did a better job of keeping a lid on Zima. The 1-1 tie held up until almost half-an-hour had run off the clock, then a pair of Griffins freshmen notched the gamewinner and an insurance goal in a 64-second span.

First, a corner kick lobbed into the box by Dugan was headed into the net by Joan Powell with 16 minutes remaining, then Dugan sent a through pass into the left side of the box, where Jackie Nevius dodged a D’Youville defender and then beat Spartans keeper Stacy Vane (16 saves total) to make it a 3-1 game. D’Youville made a few late rushes at the Griffins, but CHC keeper Krista Deflaviis (three saves) scooped up a number of dangerous loose balls in the box, maintaining the two-goal margin.