Morehouse the Difference at Both Ends; MCC Women Remain Unbeaten

Sophomore Captain Nicole Morehouse (Tolland) made 11 saves in goal and scored the game winner as Manchester Community College came back from deficits twice – 1-0 at half time and 2-1 through the 70th minute – to beat Massasoit CC 3-2 in Manchester, CT Saturday afternoon.
Manchester (9-0) had not trailed in a game over its first eight contests. Massasoit drops to 5-4.
Shelly Muratori (Enfield) broke down the right side and drilled a shot into the top corner of the net from 20 feet out to tie the game at 2-2 with 20 minutes to play. Morehouse, who was nothing short of brilliant in the first half in the net, moved up to forward after Muratori’s goal, and six minutes later, fired home the game winner. Brittany Finger (Enfield) scored her team high 12th goal four minutes into the second half, erasing the 1-0 lead Massasoit enjoyed after Emily Gendrolis scored 25 minutes into the game.
The first half of the game was played under heavy pressure in front of Morehouse, who along with backfielders Angeline Chiang (Granby) and Heather Kowalski (Newington), kept the game within reach.
Morehouse deflected a shot in the first half that hit the crossbar and settled harmlessly in the woods on the east side of the field. Ten minutes later, she dove to her right and got a piece of Gendrolis’ shot that eventually trickled into the net, just inside the far post. Morehouse made nine of her 11 saves in the first half, keeping the Cougars in the game before a half-time regroup.
The second half had a completely different storyline after some halftime words from the coach.
“There is this thing we do at practice where I put different situations on pieces of paper in a bag – you’re down two goals, down three goals,” MCC Coach Alex Calpa while catching his breath after the game. “I said ‘you’re down a goal with 45 minutes to play, you’ve got to take care of business.’ In practice, if you don’t take care of business, they’ve got to do hills, so it was up to them.”
Finger’s goal that tied the game at 1-1 and Muratori’s strike that tied it up again at 2-2 may have been overshadowed by the dramatic Morehouse goal. “As a captain she (Finger) had to step it up and she did,” Calpa said. “She received the ball right on top of the 18 and took on their entire defense and put the ball right where she needed to put it.”
Muratori’s speed allowed her to shed the Massasoit defenders and found her in a one-on-one situation with the goalkeeper. Her sixth goal of the season bent the back of the net and set the stage for Morehouse.
“At the beginning of the game, they came at us,” Morehouse said. “I didn’t know how many saves I was making or how many shots they took. We didn’t have much of an offense in the first half – it was all defense, but I knew something big was going to come.”
Ashlyn Gates (Manchester) kept Massasoit of the scoreboard over the final 20 minutes in her MCC debut, snuffing out a pair of Massasoit scoring threats in the waning minutes of the game.
Thanks to rain, the Cougars had an 11 day layoff between games and may have had some rust to shake off. “In the first half they were sleeping.” Calpa said of his undefeated team. “I’m glad they woke up.”
Calpa had high compliments for his Division III Region XXI rival, perhaps MCC’s toughest completion to date. “Massasoit is a very good team,” Calpa said. “I knew it was going to be a very tough game. They are very physical, very skillfull.”
MCC will play four straight road games – including a rematch with Massasoit on October 13th and Division I CC of Rhode Island – before returning home to face Baltimore Community College – Essex on October 18.
at Manchester, CT
MCC 3 Massasoit 2
Massasoit CC (5-4) 1 1 2
Manchester CC (9-0) 0 3 3
Goals: MA – Emily Gendrolis, Kim Campbell; MC – Brittany Finger, Shelly Muratori, Nicole Morehouse. Saves: MA Steph Aresenault 4; Nicole Morehouse 11 and Ashlyn Gates 1.
Of note: Morehouse scored the game winner with 14 minutes left after making 11 saves.