By David F. Pendrys

BRIDGEPORT, CT – The Bridgeport Purple Knights picked up a win in non-conference action versus Holy Family Wednesday night at home thanks to two goals in rapid succession in the first half.

The first half opened with an early challenge as UB’s Evelyn Hammer got a feed in the first minute and shot it, only to be thwarted by Holy Family goalie Alayna McSeed. Just minutes later UB would setup another shot for Hammer at 6:27 which McSeed would make a great save on to keep the score level.

Holy Family then turned on some of their pressure of their own launching on a run but ending up offsides. They did earn a corner kick soon afterward but UB dealt with it. Following that they made another attack but UB13’s defense disrupted it and caused a goal kick. The visiting Tigers managed a shot from Kait Findlay, which was blocked, but earned another corner. This one caused the ball to bounce into the front of the goal area and Brenna McCarry teed up a shot only to have UB netminder Clara Karlsson make a solid save to shut it down.

With the ball in the Holy Family end, Andrea Basilicato stripped the ball from a defender close to the goal and charged forward before passing it across to Hammer who had a clear shot and took it finding the back of the net for a 1-0 lead at 14:40.

Not long after Kate Thill dribbled evasively through the opposing defense and sent a ball on the ground to the goalie’s right for 2-0 advantage at 17:03. Hammer picked up the assist on this score to increase her production for the day.

Eight minutes later, Gianna Monaco of the Tigers tried to respond with a shot straight on but Karlsson stymied her attempt. At the other end, Thill then found more daylight in the penalty area and let loose a kick that sent the ball into the post.

Each side tried to get more chances in the D zone but players like UB’s 10 and 13 and HF’s 11 and 24 were among those stopping the attacks from succeeding. Thill had a late shot but McSeed stopped her that time too. The half would end with Bridgeport up 2-0.

The second half opened with Holy Family this time letting loose a shot in the opening moments as Hannah Florentino came in point blank from the side on Karlsson and the keeper denied her.

Hammer again challenged McSeed but the goalie again won that confrontation. Jacqueline Ziegler of the Tigers took on Karlsson less than two minutes later but found no success either. The two teams settled into a lot of back and forth with neither getting many scoring chances again until the 69^th minute when Angelina LoFranco’s shot was blocked. Holy Family’s Yasmine Machlof cued up a long shot wide ten minutes after that, and a four minutes later Ava Hooten her teammate also sent one wide. There was also a direct meeting between 2 and Karlsson where the goaltender fell on the ball to stop the attempt. The last shot of the game from Andrea Basilicato of UB but went high. In the end UB didn’t need more as the match wrapped up as a 2-0 victory.

Hammer had 4 shots on goal, Thill had 2 shots on goal and 3 shots total, and a handful of other players had shots as Bridgeport had six shots on goals and ten total. Brenna McCarry had 2 shots on goal, while Ziegler, Monaco, and Hannah Florentino had the others. A few others had shots on goal as The Tigers had 5 shots on goals and nine shots period.

McSeed made 4 saves on 6 shots. Karlsson made 5 saves for the clean sheet.

Jill Reeves’s Holy Family team is now 6-2-1 and Magnus Nilerud’s Bridgeport squad is 5-5-0.