Amid the glamour of senior day, the Emerson women’s soccer team defeated the Mount Holyoke College Lyons 1-0 in front of friends and family, maintaining their undefeated record against NEWMAC opponents at 6-0-2 and a nine-year unbeaten streak against the Lyons.

The lone goal was scored in the 79th minute as sophomore midfielder Tatum Cohen found a hole in the defense. After receiving an inside feed from first-year forward Rowan McCrary, Cohen netted the shot in the bottom-right corner of the goal.

It was a hard-fought offensive game for the Lions, as they made it their mission to keep the ball on Mount Holyoke’s side of the field for an overwhelming majority of the match. Emerson held the Lyons to just one shot the entire game, while taking a season-high 29 shots of their own, with 15 of them being on goal.

However, the festivities began before the game was even won. Around 20 minutes before kickoff, friends and family came onto the field to take photos with the team’s three seniors: team captains Linae Bezdek and Presley King, and Dylan Parker. The seniors were gifted a bouquet of flowers and an in-game portrait from the team.

The parents at the game supporting their kids were certainly proud of all their accomplishments as the seniors wrap up their final year of college. 

“Being a good captain this year has been absolutely amazing for her,” said Joyce King, the mother of Presley. “She’s always been somebody who coaches have said is coachable and a great personality on the team. She’s always very inviting to other teammates and makes sure they’re included in everything.”

From her daughter starting soccer at such a young age, King has appreciated being there for the journey and seeing all the development, on and off the field.

“The growth that she has to adapt to any environment or situation has been the best part for me,” said King. “Espcially for her to come all the way from California to Boston, it’s made me so proud to see her grow and mature to become her own person. She has all the tools to succeed in life.”

The name of the game in the first half was getting pressure on the Mount Holyoke defense. First-year forwards Kelsey Yoshikawa and McCrary created most of the shot opportunities with many crosses that led to shots swiftly saved by the Lyons’ goalkeeper. The Lions had no issues finding opportunities to score, but it was a matter of cashing in on those chances.

Anticipation was building in the Emerson crowd as the minutes ticked down; however, fans would have to wait until the second period to see the Lions take the lead.

Emerson’s gameplan remained the same from the first half in keeping the ball well above the midfield line. It took only 30 seconds for the Lions to take a corner kick, but the pass couldn’t find an Emerson player. 

Shot quality improved in the second half as first-year defender Brady Campbell and McCrary pinpointed shots towards the top corners of the goal, but the attempts fell short thanks to the phenomenal performance by Mount Holyoke’s goalkeeper.

After a sequence kicked off by two quick shots on goal by Cohen, she finally found a gap in the defense with a pass from McCrary that put the Lions on top with 11 minutes left in the game. That’s all Emerson needed to win, as they successfully wiped away any opportunity the Lyons had to try and tie the game with little time left on the clock.

Senior team captain King discussed the effort the team puts into capitalizing on the momentum of key plays to keep fighting in close games with teams she calls “the big five.” In the five minutes to start and end a half, as well as the five minutes after a goal, the team puts in extra effort.

“That’s something that really helps us get through those tough games and reach our goals and keeps us in the moment of the game,” said King.

With the win, Emerson now sits at second place in the NEWMAC standings, setting them up well for the postseason and potentially getting multiple home playoff games, something head coach David Suvak is aiming for.

“In the next four games, we’re hoping that we can get one or two wins to give us enough that we get to play in front of our home fans,” said Suvak. “We have the goal of making and advancing far in the playoffs, but the next step after that is trying to get [a] home field game.”

The team’s next four regular-season games pit them against the other top five teams in the NEWMAC: Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Springfield, MIT, and Babson. King and Suvak know the Lions have their work cut out for them, but they believe they have the recipe for success already laid out. King knows the plan is simple, have shots find the back of the net early so Emerson can keep the pressure on.

“Sometimes we find ourselves playing defense for a majority of the game, but getting some goals early on really helps us to go into those games with more confidence.”

“For us, it’s playing a full 90-minute match that has some urgency to try to score and to win those games,” said Suvak. “In a more open type of game against WPI or Babson or Springfield, it’s going to change and we’re going to be able to play better and make the plays we usually do to win games.”

In Emerson’s next game against the WPI Engineers, they came away with a crucial 2-1 victory, fueled by goals from Campbell and Yoshikawa.

Up next, the Lions will travel out west to play the Springfield College Pride on Saturday at 6 p.m.