The women’s soccer team defeated Wellesley College by a score of 1-0 behind senior forward Veronica Alberts’ lone goal.

The win improves the Lions’ record to 10-4 on the season and 5-1 in the New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference.

In the first half, the Lions had several chances to take the lead but could not capitalize on nine shot attempts. The Lions kept possession for most of the half and limited Wellesley to just one attempt. 

“We just did everything we could to keep a clean sheet,” Alberts said in a post-game interview. “We knew that at halftime, we would reset and come back harder and stronger. So we just thought if we kept it 0-0 at that point, then that is just going to make it that much easier for us to get a goal in the second half.”

The Lions kept up the pressure to start the second half as they continued to chase a goal—attempting a total of 14 shots in the half. Head coach David Suvak said he wanted the team to try a different attacking strategy in the second half. 

“We felt our defensive line was sitting back and very comfortable possessing the ball,” Suvak said in an interview. “We asked them to break the first line of defense and we thought we could play make from that point. We also thought our wing players were tucking in too tight and we wanted to keep them wide.” 

With 20 minutes left to play, the Lions broke the stalemate after Alberts quickly cut inside and curled the ball high and over the Wellesley goalkeeper for the only goal of the game. 

“I just tested my luck there,” Alberts said. “As soon as the ball came my way and it was one-on-one with the defender, I saw that if I cut in and take a shot, I can hopefully get by [the goalkeeper]. I knew I hadn’t tested the keeper nor did I test my defender, so that was something I wanted to do at least once.”

The win extends the Lions’ winning streak to four—all of which came against conference opponents. This is also the Lions’ third straight 1-0 victory after defeating Worcester Polytechnic Institute and Wheaton College by the same scoreline. 

“I think the defense was mostly playmaking today, although they had some spotty moments where they had to defend strong,” Suvak said. “In the last couple of games, they had to be very strong in the way they defended because we’re playing opponents that were working very hard against us. I’m happy that we kept another clean sheet and we’re working on minimizing goals against us.”

The Lions will travel to play the United States Coast Guard Academy on Tuesday, Oct. 22 at 4 p.m.