On Sunday, September 29, MCLA’s Women’s Soccer team defeated Massachusetts Maritime Academy at Shewcraft Field.It was a tough game, but Kylie DeMaio ’27 secured the win by scoring her 5th goal of the season. It was the only goal scored in the entire game.
This was a major win for the Trailblazers: their first MASCAC win in the past five years.
Within the first five minutes, there were three shot attempts by Massachusetts Maritime Academy’s (MMA’s) Kylie Maher ’24, Lizzy Kinnane ’28, and Eliza Brook ’28, all saved by MCLA goalie Mallory Amirian ’28.
MMA and MCLA battled for the next 20 minutes of the game, going back and forth with attempts on Amirian and MMA goalie Regan Kerecz ’24.
MMA brought high levels of physicality to the game, which MCLA had no trouble responding to. They fought back against MMA’s aggression to reach the goal. At the 25-minute mark, Catelyn Hodge ’28 assisted DeMaio to score the first and only goal of the game. This goal boosted MCLA morale and helped them shut MMA out for the rest of the first period.
During the second period, MMA brought more offensive intensity and played with force as they continued to body MCLA players to try and get a goal. MMA took 14 shots in the second half, while MCLA only took 3.
With a little over a minute left in the second period, a foul was called on MCLA, close to the goal line. The game came down to the last twenty seconds, with two very close shots by MMA’s Brady Deschamps ’26 and Matilda Laux ’26. Both attempts were saved by Amirian, just seconds before the buzzer went off.
After a long and forceful game, MCLA clinched their first win in conference play in the last five years and, to make matters sweeter, secured a two-game win streak.
Asked about those gritty last moments of the game, Amirian said, “I was willing to do anything to make sure the team would win.” She called out the last goal she saved in the game as the moment she knew they had won, recalling that she and her teammates had “high energy and intensity throughout the game” and played “simple but effective,” which made winning the game much easier.
Amirian was proud of her team, and “to see all the hard work pay off from practice [was] very rewarding.” This was Amirian’s first college shutout, and her performance in the game earned her the title of “MASCAC Rookie of the Week”.
In an interview with Women’s Soccer Coach Raber, she explained her team’s biggest area of growth from the beginning of the season to now has been “their belief in themselves and the knowledge they have to play a great game of soccer.”
MCLA’s women’s soccer team has spent a great deal of time at practice and film sessions, doing all they can to learn more about the game, but that does not mean the season has been easy for Coach Raber or the team. They have faced significant adversity, particularly from the number of injuries they have dealt with. Raber applauded her players’ abilities to “be flexible and work through the problems they face.”
She highlighted Lauren Kimball ’26 and Lauren Campbell ’28 for their ability to “step up and play outside” and Cinderella Khoury ’26 and Tia Kareh ’27 “for working hard to understand new positions.”
According to Raber, it was the “hard work, flexibility, and willingness of the players” that allowed them to pull through with a win. She was happy to see the hard work of her players pay off, winning their first conference game in the past five years. It was a gritty and hard-fought game. Coach Raber’s favorite moment was the excitement on her player’s faces once the final buzzer went off.
