Manhattanville Edges Fitchburg State, 1-0

Kirouac registers three saves in Falcons non-conference setback

MANSFIELD, Conn. (August 30, 2013) – The Fitchburg State women's soccer team opened the 2013 season this evening, falling 1-0 to the Valiants of Manhattanville College in opening round action of the Warriors Classic hosted by Eastern Connecticut State University.

Following a scoreless first half, Manhattanville opened the scoring in the 66th minute of play when sophomore Christie DeMarco (Valley Stream, N.Y./Valley Stream South) connected on her first goal of the season as she received a feed from junior Tori Lettieri (St. James, N.Y./Smithtown East) and fired a shot into the back of the net for the 1-0 advantage.

Fitchburg State's best scoring opportunity came with less than two minutes remaining in the contest as freshman Abbey Norden (Belchertown, Mass./Belchertown) and junior Sierra Santos (Lakeville, Mass./Dartmouth) each blasted shots on frame but Valiants goalkeeper Dolores Diemicke (North Massapequa, N.Y./Plainedge) denied both shots to preserve the 1-0 victory for Manhattanville.

In the opening frame, the Falcons nearly grabbed the lead at the 27:53 mark as senior Rachel Jamieson (Foxboro, Mass./Foxboro) fired a shot on goal that was stopped by Diemicke to keep the score deadlocked 0-0 heading into the intermission.

The match was closely contested as Fitchburg State outshot Mahattanville 10-8, while the Valiants held a 5-1 margin in corner kicks. In goal, senior Jillian Kirouac (Leominster, Mass./Leominster) made two saves for the Falcons in the complete game effort, while Diemicke stopped three shots for Mahattanville to earn the victory.

Fitchburg State (0-1, 0-0 MASCAC) will be back in action tomorrow as it takes on Eastern Connecticut State University in second round action of the Warriors Classic at 7 p.m. Manhattanville (1-0, 0-0 FC) also returns to action tomorrow as it battles the University of Saint Joseph's in second round action at 4 p.m.