The Lady Beacons returned to their winning ways last Tuesday October 2nd cruising to a 7-0 victory over first year program Newbury College. Nine players made it into the books for the Beacons, led by freshman forward Jillian Moreira who tallied 7 points (2G, 3A) in the win. Moreira’s point total is the highest by any player on the women’s team since 1997, the same season in which the team last tallied seven goals in a contest. With the victory, UMB extends their record to 3-7-1 and halts a streak of six games without a win while their counterparts from Newbury drop to 1-7-1.

While UMass kept consistent pressure the entire game, the scoring came in bunches. After starting with 17 scoreless minutes, the floodgates began to open and the home team scored three quick goals in a seven-minute stretch. Moreira cracked the scoring with a well-placed shot into the side of the net at the 17:29 mark, followed just 25 seconds later by fellow freshman forward Nicki Finamore’s second goal of the season giving the Beacons a 2-0 lead. Stalwart midfielder Lauren Vargas capped the flurry of scoring by converting a cross from Meredith Fredericks for Fredrick’s second assist of the day.

The second half brought more of the same for the Beacons, who repeated their first half feat of scoring three goals in seven minutes to put the game out of reach at 6-0 by the 60:18 mark of the second half. It was during this frenzy that Moreira immortalized herself in the UMB record books by recording the sixth goal and assisting on the previous two, tying her for the school’s single game points record. Reserve Beca Cortazio, who had assisted on Moreira’s final goal, finished the day’s scoring with a beautiful breakaway goal in the 72nd minute. Cortazio took a cross from Jill Collins, made a move around the defender and then went one-on-one with the goalie, eventually depositing the ball in the left corner of the net for her first goal of the year.

The game took an interesting turn in the 21st minute when Newbury midfielder Breyana Ramsey was forced to leave the game due to asthma and Newbury, traveling with only an 11-woman squad, was forced to play ten players. In response, Coach Zombeck took one of her own players off the field and played ten, despite the fact that she was under no obligation to do so. “Its about respect,” the coach commented after the game, “they’re a good team and they played hard; its just the classy thing to do.” Late in the second half, another Newbury player would be forced to leave the game due to injury and the game reverted to nine-on-nine, although by this point the game was no longer in question.

The Beacons next contest is Tuesday, October 10th when they will be hosting the Mountaineers of Southern Vermont College at the Clark Athletic Field.