BRIGHTON, Mass. – Simmons soccer (3-12-3; 2-9-2 GNAC) fell to Great Northeast Athletic Conference rival, Emmanuel College (13-2-3; 9-2-2 GNAC), in a tough 1-0 loss on a foggy, Wednesday night at Daly Field.

Emmanuel began their offensive attack early in the game with a corner kick opportunity in just the 5^th minute. After that, the Saints kept pressuring hard towards their goal; however, it was the Sharks defense that had an impressive performance the whole game. While the defense was keeping Emmanuel away from their goal, the Simmons offense had some opportunities in the first half.  

The Sharks registered four shots in the first half, each coming from a different player. First-year Kayla Noonan had a close shot in the 26^th minute against Emmanuel goalkeeper Patricia Kirejczyk, but the save was made to stop it. In the 34^th minute, sophomore Steph Mendoza tried a long shot almost near the midfield line; yet was stopped by Kirejczyk.

The Saints offense was relentless in their pursuit for a goal with time winding down in the half as junior goalkeeper Marita Nothacker stopped their advances with just seven saves in the first half.

Simmons would go into the locker room pleased at halftime, as they shut out the Saints completely in the first half.

When the whistle was blown for the second half, Emmanuel wasted no time to once again pressure towards the Simmons defense. Yet again, Nothacker and the defense continued to defend their goal well. Nevertheless, the Saints found a way to get their first and only goal of the match in the 56^th minute by Maya Daryanani. Down by one goal early in the second half, the Sharks huddled together and became determined to even up the score.

With time ticking down, Simmons tried their best to get past the tough Emmanuel wall of defense. In the last 20 minutes of the game, the Sharks had three shots towards goal and one close opportunity from Kayla Noonan. Other than that, they were defending the ball against the Emmanuel offense trying to score another goal.

The final whistle blew for the game as the Sharks lost a close, competitive battle with the Saints. Even with the loss, Simmons held their heads up because of their hard work and how they never ever gave up against any of their opponents this season.

Simmons Highlights:

• Sophomore Steph Mendoza, junior Sydney Neumuth and first-year Kayla Noonan each had two shots towards goal in the game.
• Mendoza tied her career single game high of registering two shots on goal.
• Junior goalkeeper Marita Nothacker had eight saves for the night.

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Simmons soccer ends their season with the overall record of 3-12-3 and a conference record of 2-9-2.