UMBC Women’s Soccer Falls at the Hands of Hartford, 4-1
Amy Savage scores for the second time in as many games

WEST HARTFORD, Conn. – UMBC junior midfielder Amy Savage (Ottawa, Ontario/Sir Wilfrid Laurier) tallied her second goal in two games in the first half against Hartford, but the Hawks’ senior forward Ameila Pereira netted two first half goals en route to a 4-1 victory in Thursday night’s America East contest on Al-Marzook Field inside Alumni Stadium.

Hartford improves to 6-2-3 overall and 2-0 in conference, while UMBC drops to 1-8-2 on the year and 0-2 in league play.

Junior forward Natasha Douglas helped to put Hartford out in front 2:54 into the contest, sending a pass just inside the box for Pereira to blast a shot into the lower right corner of the net, for the 1-0 advantage.

UMBC junior forward Stephanie Smith (Severna Park, Md./Archbishop Spalding) earned her first point of the season, crossing the ball out of the corner to the front of the net for Savage to head past Hawks’ junior goalkeeper Erin Quinlan to even the score at one with 34:29 remaining in the opening half.

Pereira struck again, giving Hartford back the lead and notching the eventual game-winner, heading in a cross from junior forward Arielle Aikens for her ninth goal of the season.  

Hartford added further insurance in the first half, as Douglas stole the ball from the UMBC defense and dished the ball off to senior forward Caitlin Alves for the finish for the 3-1 lead at the half.

Freshman forward Elise Galipo added her second goal of the season in the 85th minute for Hartford’s fourth goal on 10 shot.

“The score was not indicative of our play tonight,” head coach Leslie Wray said. “Although we went down a goal early we responded well and tied the game with a quality goal. We showed a lot of heart and I was happy with our work rate.”

UMBC returns to action on Sunday when it hosts Maine at the Retriever Soccer Park for America East action. Kickoff starts at 1 p.m.