Lasers Reach GNAC Semis on Harris' Two Goals

NEWTON, MA- Freshman Jamie Harris (Lynnfield, MA) booted home both goals for Lasell in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference Women's Soccer Tournament quarter finals lifting the Lasers past Emerson College, 2-0, on Sunday at Taylor Field. 

The win avenged an previous loss to the Lions during the regular season and upped Lasell's overall record to 12-3-3. In the defeat, Emerson closes out their 2010 campaign with a 7-11-0 slate. 

The second seeded Lasell paced the contest maintaining a steady flow of shots throughout, recording a lopsided 31 shots to seventh seeded Emerson's four, and seven corners to the Lions three. Despite the steady stream of shots and control of the ball, it took the hosts over 27 minutes to get on the board.  

 Harris struck for the first time at 27:26 when she chased down a pass from Ally Bushey (Westminster, MA) along the left sideline and carried the pass into the box where she released for the Lasers 1-0 lead.

Two minutes later, Emerson's Meghan Foehl (Cheshire, CT) traveled down field all alone to draw Lasell's goaltender Elizabeth Stickley (Mashpee, MA) out of net in a challenge.  As Foehl launched her shot, Stickley made a spectacular sliding save to block the challenge at the eighteen and preserve the Lasers' lead into the halftime break. 

The hosts boosted their advantage in the 53^rd minute of the contest when Emily Machado (Marshfield, MA) dropped a pass over the top of Emerson's defense to lead Harris to goal for the second time. Harris presented from the right side, crossing a shot in the lower left corner past a diving MacDonald. 

A Laser corner kick by Harris with ten minutes remaining led to a flurry of shots on goal with relief goaltender Jill Dean (Lynn, MA) who kept turning shots away, picking up three saves in the scuffle. 

Emerson's starting goalie Marisa MacDonald (Winchester, MA) was charged with the loss, making five saves in the losing effort.  Stickley's performance earned her a third season shutout, stopping three shots-on-goal in the process.

The Lasers will host the GNAC Tournament Semi-Finals on Wednesday, November 3rd at 2:30 on Taylor Field.  This is the first time in the program history that the Lasers have made it this far into the GNAC tournament.