DARTMOUTH, Mass. - Graduate student
Kait Bernier broke away for her second and third goals of the season in the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, 3-1, Little East Conference (LEC) opening victory over Plymouth State Friday night at Cressy Field. Freshman
Jenny Kinnear scored her first-career goal in the contest as well.
The Corsairs (3-2, 1-0 LEC) win their first conference game in a full season since 2019. It's the first win over the Panthers (3-3, 0-1 LEC) since Sept. 15 of 2018.
UMass Dartmouth held a 9-7 advantage in shots and 7-2 on goal. The teams were even with four corner kicks.
Plymouth State's junior Ashley Plante scored the lone goal for the road team in the 22nd minute. It came from freshman Molly Bellmore to put the Panthers up, 1-0.
Just over seven minutes later, Kinnear found the back of the net off a rebound and an assist from classmate
Veronica Bock to even the score. It would remain a 1-1 game until the second half.
In the 49th minute, the fastest 400-meter sprinter in the LEC collected the ball at the 40-yard line and used her speed to to zoom by two defenders and tap it past the keeper to make it a 2-1 lead.
Bernier did it again in the 51st minute, a nearly full-field pass from sophomore
Caroline McAuliffe put Bernier in front of everybody and she pushed the one-on-one chance past the keeper to seal the deal.
UMass Dartmouth is back in action on Tuesday at 4 p.m. at Salve Regina.
