Women’s Soccer Draws Amherst in NCAA Opening Round

The Lasell College women's soccer team will take on 12^th ranked Amherst College in their opening round match in the NCAA tournament. The Lasers are making their third straight appearance in the NCAA's after securing the Great Northeast Athletic Conference Championship with a 2-0 defeat of Simmons College on Sunday November 4^th.

Lasell (14-4-1) will play at Amherst (13-1-2) on Saturday November 10^th at 11:00 a.m., and their match will be followed by University Athletic Association representative Brandeis University (13-4-2) taking on  Liberty League foe Union College (15-3-0) at 1:30 p.m. The winners will meet in the second round on Sunday November 11^th at 1:30 p.m. at Amherst.

Lasell had a trio of 2012 All-GNAC selections, sophomores Bridget Lynch and Kayla Lynch were both named to the conference 1st Team and junior Jamie Osterberg was named to the 2nd Team. Bridget Lynch was selected as the 2012 GNAC Player of the Year following a 2012 campaign that saw her tally a GNAC best 51 points on 23 goals and five assists in 19 matches. The Lasers are averaging 3.2 goals per match, the 30^th best mark in the country while only conceding 1.09 goals per outing.

Amherst received an at-large bid to this year's championship, their second straight appearance, after falling on penalties in the NESCAC championship game to Bowdoin. In 2011 the Lord Jeffs advanced to the round of eight, defeating Castleton State, Misericordia and Johns Hopkins before losing their only match of the season to eventual National Champion Messiah. Amherst's only loss during the 2012 season was a 3-2 defeat to Williams College, while the Lord Jeff's also drew with Middlebury in late September.

Amherst sports the highest scoring offense in the NESCAC, netting 2.9 goals per match, on the strength a balanced attack featuring five players who have scored at least five goals. Junior Amanda Brisco leads the Lord Jeffs attack with eight goals and six assists, while 2011 NESCAC Co-Player of the Year, senior Kathryn Nathan has five goals and 11 assists. Freshmen keeper Holly Burwick has posted 7 clean sheets in 16 matches and boasts a paltry 0.71 goals against average.

Saturday's match will be the first-ever meeting between Lasell and Amherst in women's soccer and it will mark the third straight season that the Lasers have faced a NESCAC opponent in the opening round of the NCAA tournament. Lasell fell to Williams 3-0 in their first NCAA appearance in 2010, and dropped a 2-0 result in 2011 at Middlebury.