Soccer Wins Again; Defeats Johnson & Wales, 3-0

WEST HARTFORD, Conn. – Freshman Melissa Dodge (Watertown, Conn.) stopped seven shots for her third consecutive shutout and was backed by goals from three different scorers as the University of Saint Joseph women's soccer team defeated Johnson & Wales 3-0 Saturday in a GNAC game at Saint Joseph.

Saint Joseph, playing its 2012 home opener, won its fifth consecutive game to improve to 5-1 overall and 3-0 in the GNAC.  Johnson & Wales dropped to 1-5 and 0-2.

After a slow start, Saint Joseph freshman Sara Barnick (Watertown, Conn.) got the Blue Jays on the board 29:13 into the game with her team-leading fifth goal of the season. Barnick made a long breakaway run down the center of the field and drilled a shot into the upper right corner of the goal from 20 yards.

The score remained 1-0 at halftime before Saint Joseph converted two pretty goals after intermission. First, Nicole Mendelson (Southbury, Conn.) made a long pass on a direct kick that Kristin Whitman (South Windsor, Conn.) headed in from the goalmouth for a 2-0 Saint Joseph lead at 63:11. The Blue Jays got their final tally when Mendelson bent in a corner kick that went untouched into the goal with 12:17 to play.

"The second half was better than the first," Saint Joseph coach Chris LeGates said. "It's good to play at home finally, but we were a little jittery for the first 15 minutes, maybe because of that. But once we settled in, we showed how we're capable of playing. That's a big conference win and we're very pleased with the result."

Saint Joseph hosts St. Joseph's of Maine, Wed. Sept. 19 at 4 p.m.