Women's Soccer Dealt 3-1 Loss at St. Mary's

(boxscore)

8/25/06 --The Long Island University women’s soccer team (0-1) kicked off its season with a 3-1 loss to St. Mary’s (Calif.) at Garaventa Field. Aly Hanson netted the Blackbirds’ lone goal in the loss.

St. Mary’s opened the scoring early, tallying a pair of goals before the 10-minute mark. Allie Weiner was the first to find the back of the next, chipping a through ball off the foot of Nikki Schrey past Long Island goalie Stephanie Kansky in the eighth minute. Just over a minute later, Danielle Spahn scored off assists from Weiner and McKenna Belzer. Spahn managed to flick a one-touch volley off a cross past Kansky. Spahn would score again in the 61st minute to give the Gaels a 3-0 lead.

Hanson’s unassisted goal put the Blackbirds on the board in the 69th minute.

Kansky made three saves and St. Mary’s Noelle Brown stopped one shot. The Gaels outshot LIU by a 9-4 margin.

The Blackbirds will return to action on Aug. 27, when they complete their two-game West Coast swing by visiting Pacific at 3:00 p.m.