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Box Score           
Erica Mastrogiacomo’s Simmons club scored all three of its goals in a 3:19 span midway through the first half in a 3-0 victory over host Pine Manor in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference season-opener Wednesday afternoon in Chestnut Hill.

After an evenly played contest in the opening minutes, Simmons seized control 15 minutes into play. With 29:16 remaining, Sharks midfielder Anna Stella (Sharon, MA/Sharon) was stoned at point-blank range on a fantastic save by Gators keeper Coleen Tencza (South Meriden, CT/Platt).
Stella and the Sharks wouldn’t be denied, though, as she connected on an assist to Brooke MacKenzie (Mansfield, MA/Mansfield), who knocked one in past Tencza from 15 yards into the lower right net to commence the scoring 18:48 into the contest. A loose ball following a Justine Beauchamp (Exeter, NH/Exeter) corner kick deflected to MacKenzie just 62 seconds later, who beat Tencza, this time from 20 yards to the top right of the net to take a 2-0 advantage. Beauchamp concluded the lightning attack just with an even deeper goal into the top right corner of the net, ending a 3-0 run in 3:19, which was more than enough for three Sharks goalkeepers to combine on the shutout.

Despite being outshot 20-8 and 13-4 in shots on goal, the Gators had their chances in the second half. At the 55:37 mark, Alicia Grenier (Swansea, MA/Joseph Case) had an excellent look within five yards, but her shot was blocked. Fellow forward Margaret Roberts (Allentown, PA/Louis E. Dieruff) corralled the rebound but fired wide.

Less than a minute later, Vanessa Kelly (Santa Barbara, CA/Bishop Garcia Diego), in her first action since 2007, had perhaps the Gators best opportunity. The senior forward streaked on a one-on-one breakaway down the right wing and fired a low, sinking liner to the bottom right of the net. Simmons keeper Ashley Wheeler (Nashua, NH/Nashua) dove to her left to make a sprawling, two-handed save and keep the Sharks shutout in tact.

Simmons, which defeated Wentworth Institute of Technology 4-2 on Tuesday, improves to 2-0-0 (1-0-0 GNAC), which Cory Kinsella’s Gators fall to 0-1-0. Pine Manor returns to action on Saturday, playing host to Southern Vermont in the second slate of a four-game, season-opening homestand.