NEW ENGLAND MUTINY 3, LONG ISLAND ROUGH RIDERS 2

EAST LONGMEADOW, MA - Old adversaries met on the pitch for the first time in 15 years at East Longmeadow High School, as the New England Mutiny hosted the Long Island Rough Riders in a UWS East match on Saturday night. It turned out to be a tale of two halves, with the Rough Riders (1-2-1) controlling the opening 45 minutes while the Mutiny (3-1) took the second half, winning by a 3-2 score.

New England captain Kate Howarth led the scoring, notching two goals to bring her season total up to six including the game-winner in the 53rd minute. Howarth took advantage of a defensive miscue by Long Island in the 5th minute. The former Boston Breaker dribbled around Rough Riders goalkeeper Melissa Guglielmo and slotted the ball into the far corner for the early 1-0 lead.

From there, Long Island would hold the run of play. Alexa Schneider beat the Mutiny defense to the ball on a free kick from the right flank by Krista Fitzpatrick in the 12th minute. Fourteen minutes later, the Rough Riders would go up 2-1 on a great individual effort from Christina Bellero. She picked up the ball 25 yards from goal on the right flank, dribbled through a number of defenders and deposited her shot past Mutiny keeper Anne-Marie Ulliac inside the far post.

The second half would see the home side pick up the pace of play. In the 49th minute, Anais Chareyron pressured the Rough Riders defense on what was an innocuous ball deep in LI territory and would tap it into the heart of the penalty area. Stephanie Santos battled a Long Island defender and buried her shot in the empty net for the 2-2 score.

Four minutes later, Abby Sotomayor fed Charlie Branch in on goal. Branch’s bid for a goal was stopped by Guglielmo but Howarth pounced on the loose ball and hammered her shot home for the game-winner. The Mutiny will now embark on a four-game road trip. Next weekend, they travel to face the New York Magic (0-2-1) on Saturday before Sunday’s match at the TSF Academy Valkyries (0-2-1). Long Island travels to Lancaster (2-2) on Sunday.

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LANCASTER INFERNO 0, NEW JERSEY COPA F.C. 5

MILLERSVILLE, PA - What was potentially a battle between an unstoppable force and an immovable object became a rout for the former, as New Jersey Copa F.C. (4-1-1) scored early and often in their road match against the Lancaster Inferno on Saturday afternoon, winning by a 5-0 score. Copa has played the most games of any UWS team this season and also lead the league in goals scored (17). Lancaster’s defense just came off two shutout victories on the road but unfortunately, their home troubles continued with their second loss in as many games at Pucillo Field.

NJCFC opened the scoring in the 2nd minute of play, as Krystyna Freda assisted on the eventual game-winning goal by Jeanine Nunez. Freda would score the next three goals for the road team in the 28th, 39th and 58th minutes of the match. Her three goals and assist now put her at the tops of the scoring ledger for UWS (eight goals, one assist). Phoenitia Browne would finish the scoring for Copa in the 78th minute.

Goalkeeper Kristyn Shea (three saves) would get the win in net for NJCFC while Emily Dolan (five saves) took the loss for the Inferno. Copa out-shot Lancaster by a 15-6 margin. The two teams will face one another again this Saturday, as NJCFC return to Mercer County Community College for a 4:30 PM kickoff.

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NEW YORK MAGIC 1, TSF ACADEMY VALKYRIES 1

NEW ROCHELLE, NY - Two former W-League teams were looking for their first win of the season this past Saturday afternoon. The New York Magic hosted the TSF Academy Valkyries at Iona College’s Mazzella Field with both sides having found life in the new national pro-am women’s soccer league a bit difficult. The Valkyries would score the first goal, but the Magic would score the next one and after a back-and-forth second half, the two teams would go home with the 1-1 draw.

Amber Crispin opened the scoring for TSF in the 28th minute off an assist by Brittany Cooper. New York would come back in the 41st minute, as Shani Abrahams notched the first Magic goal of the season with thanks to an assist from Sara Sanau-Ruiz. The score would stay at 1-1 going into halftime with the home side thanking goalkeeper Samantha Depken (six saves), who made two back-to back saves to keep New York in the game.

The second half would see no goals scored, but both the Magic and Valkyries hit the cross bar or the post in scoring efforts to get the win. TSF out-shot New York by a 17-10 margin with Valkyries keeper Rachel Egyed making six saves in the draw.

About United Women’s Soccer (UWS): UWS is a national women’s soccer league sanctioned by U.S. Soccer through the United States Adult Soccer Association (USASA). UWS is a professionally operated league created for teams that meet high minimum standards. The season runs from May until the end of July, culminating in a National Championship match. The UWS player pool is comprised of college players, aspiring & former professionals and international stars. You can follow UWS on social media on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

UWS is managed by EDP, a leading soccer management company that runs a number of leagues and tournaments.  In addition to UWS, EDP operates youth leagues that includes an NPL league, the EDP Super Club program, the EDP Premier League and the EDP Championship League. EDP also runs EDP Futures programs for U-7’s to U-12’s and it conducts more than 20 youth tournaments, including tournaments within its EDP Cup Series and EDP Showcase Series.

Media can contact UWS Director of Communications Jorma Kansanen by e-mail at Press@UWSSoccer.com. You can visit the league’s official website at UWSSoccer.com. Interested team applicants can contact League Commissioner Joe Ferrara by e-mail at Joe@UWSSoccer.com.