HARRISONBURG, Va. – The Washington and Lee women's soccer team controlled the pace of play from start to finish en route to a 3-0 road win at Eastern Mennonite on Saturday night.
W&L improves to 7-0-4 overall and 2-0-1 in conference with the win. It also marks the third season over the last four that the team has begun the year with an unbeaten streak of at least 11 games. The Royals fall to 0-10-2 overall with the loss and 0-4-0 in the ODAC.
The Generals got on the board early following a corner kick opportunity in the sixth minute. Sophomore midfielder
Ann Riley Huber (Atlanta, Ga. / Holy Innocents' Episcopal) sent a cross in from the left corner, where junior defender
Mady Laudisi (Middletown, N.J. / Middletown-South) headed the ball into the back of the net for the lead.
Despite going into halftime with a 1-0 lead, the Generals controlled the ball and the offensive chances with a 20-1 shot advantage and 12-0 corner kick margin through the first 45 minutes of play.
W&L doubled its lead over EMU in the 72nd minute, again, following a corner kick. Junior
Cameron Grainger (Charlotte, N.C. / Charlotte Country Day) crossed a corner kick into the middle of the box, where the ball was popped up by the defense. Junior midfielder
Emma Mansfield (Washington, D.C. / The Potomac School (Va.)) settled the ball with one touch, and immediately used a back-heeled touch to split through the EMU defense. From 12 yards out, Mansfield found enough room for a shot, and she finished inside the right post.
The Generals put the finishing touches on the 3-0 win in the 83rd minute. Senior
Madison Sumatra (Franklin, Tenn. / Ravenwood) sent a pass up the right side for first-year
Bryn Bissinger (Greenville, S.C. / St. Joseph's Catholic). Bissinger trapped the ball, cut back to her left to get around a defender and sent the ball into the box where it was redirected off the head of a Royals' defender and inside the right post for a goal.
Mansfield took a team-high five shots on the night, as she scored her second goal of the season. Laudisi's sixth-minute goal was her first of the season, and she finished with three total shots and two attempts on goal. Huber totaled four shots and logged her second assist of the season. In goal, junior
Sydney Smith (Damascus, Md. / Damascus) (7-0-4) was credited with her fifth clean sheet of the season, and she made one save.
The Royals mustered two shots in the game, with Lyndsay Harris putting one shot on goal in the 90th minute. Aja Laun (0-10-2) suffered the loss in goal, but she made 15 saves across the 90 minutes of play.
W&L finished the game with a 39-2 margin in total shots, the most shots in a game since totaling 40 in a 5-0 win against Guilford on October 12 of last season. Corner kicks also favored the Blue and White, 21-1.
The Generals will be back in action on Sunday when they host Hollins at 1:00 pm on Watt Field.
