BROCKTON, Mass. ---- The Massasoit women's soccer team led CCRI 1-0 through the first 51 minutes of action, but ran out of steam in a 4-1 loss on Wednesday afternoon at Warrior Field.
"We played a different formation, and tried to pack it in and hoping we could get an early goal, which we did," head coach Jim Stapleton said. "It was a competitive game, but CCRI was just better than us."
Massasoit (8-5, 6-3 Region XXI) took the 1-0 lead in the first when Kayla Gomes (Halifax) corralled a cross from Gina Nutting (Rockland) and found the back of the net for the 19th time this season.
The Warriors would hold the 1-0 advantage at half and up until the 52nd minute, until CCRI's Stepheny Perez hit a corner kick that found its way into the net to tie the score.
Just under 18 minutes later, Kyanna Ivey-Jones scored her first of two goals on the afternoon as the Knights improved to 7-3-1 overall and 3-0 in conference action with the win.
Lauren Cattani and Ivey-Jones would tack on the third and fourth goals in the 84th and 89th minute of the match to round out the scoring.
Despite the final score, goalkeeper Laura Ellis (Raynham) had one of her more impressive matches of the season. The freshman made a career-high 15 saves and was under constant attack all afternoon.
"Laura made some spectacular saves for us today," Stapleton said. "Even the final 10 seconds, CCRI is firing shots and she was making stops. She played great and really helped keep us in the game."
Massasoit opted to pack the middle defensively on its half of the field. As a result, CCRI had many more chances to shoot, as the visiting Knights fired off 41 total shots compared to just five by the Warriors. Nutting led Massasoit with three shots, two coming on goal.
NEXT UP: Massasoit will take a week off until its next game with a road trip to Dean College. The match is slated for 3:30 p.m. in Franklin, Mass.