Young guns lead the way in Wildcats win

BOSTON, Mass. - A trio of freshman provided the offensive power for the Wildcats Tuesday night as Wheelock defeated Daniel Webster College 3-1 in New England Collegiate College action. The win is Wheelock's second in conference play and improves the Wildcats to 2-1 in the NECC. The loss was only the second in seven games for the Eagles, who fall to 5-2 overall and 3-2 in the conference. (Right: Taylor Rogers).

Wheelock got on the board first when freshman Rachel Robohm (Northeastern, MA) laced a pass from teammate Chelsey Ballard (Mansfield, MA) between the pipes for the 1-0 advantage.

"This young team has been catching their rhythm together particularly in the last 4 games," said second year head coach Kyoungho Koh. "In tonight's game, our focus was to take on a team who comes out very strong in the first half and to shut down their leading shot makers. It meant that team defense would be important across the field and everyone took that to heart as double teams and sharp tackles forced the ball from Daniel Webster over and over again."

The Eagles were able to eventually overcome the tough defense briefly when they evened things up three minutes later as Kyla Palaschak (E. Bridgewater, MA) took a Natalie Bates (North Kingston, RI) pass and found the back of the net.

The lead was short-lived however, as Wheelock's Despina Savvoulides (Norwalk, CT) broke away at midfield and threaded a pass to Taylor Rogers (Essex, MA) for the go ahead score. Ballard scored the third and final goal of the game in the second half.

Meredith Race (Marion, MA) turned away five shots for the Wildcats while Amy Prince (Hope Valley, RI) stopped eight shots for Daniel Webster.

Wheelock returns to play Thursday against St. Joseph's (ME) while the Eagles travel to Thomas College on Saturday.