College Notes

Imondi, Leahy continue to flourish

Brenden Soares
Posted 11/13/14

Heartbreak was the order of the day last weekend as Warwick-natives Kelsey Imondi and Nicole Leahy tasted defeat on the soccer pitch with silverware and automatic bids to the NCAA tournament on the …

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College Notes

Imondi, Leahy continue to flourish

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Heartbreak was the order of the day last weekend as Warwick-natives Kelsey Imondi and Nicole Leahy tasted defeat on the soccer pitch with silverware and automatic bids to the NCAA tournament on the line.

Imondi, an alum of Toll Gate who is currently a fifth-year senior captain at Assumption, put together a fine swan song to her intercollegiate career by scoring four goals for the Greyhounds this fall, including both tallies in a 2-0 triumph over Southern New Hampshire on October 4.

Additionally, the ex-Titan earned Northeast 10-wide recognition by being selected Second-Team All-Conference alongside three of her teammates, with a fourth Hound earning first-team honors for the regular-season champions.

Despite all the individual success, Imondi and the Assumption eleven were denied the cherry on top of the sundae, as the Greyhounds failed to make home advantage count in the Northeast-10 championship on Sunday, falling in a 3-0 defeat to second-seeded Saint Rose.

With the conference’s automatic bid pocketed by the Golden Knights, Imondi and her teammates then played the waiting game, hoping that the 15-4-1 record accrued by Assumption during the season would be enough to net an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament.

On Monday night, the Greyhounds received the good word from the selection committee and were rewarded with the fourth-seed in the East regional and a match-up on Friday afternoon with LIU-Post, which is seeded fifth in the six-team field.

Should Assumption defeat the Pioneers, the Greyhounds will be rewarded with a rematch with top-seed and newly-minted mortal enemy Saint Rose on Sunday.

Leahy, who has platooned in goal for Wentworth this season, was part of a Cinderella run to the Commonwealth Coast Conference final, which saw the Leopards upset second-seeded Endicott in the quarterfinals and number-three seed Eastern Nazarene in the semifinals, the latter decided on penalties after a 1-1 draw.

However, the clock hit midnight for Wentworth on Saturday, with Leahy and the Leopards being cruelly denied the glass slipper with 21 seconds remaining in regulation, as the Hawks’ Kristen Tetreault leveled the scores at one goal apiece courtesy of a rebound off of Leahy.

The two sides then played 20 minutes of overtime without producing a winner, leaving matters to be decided from the white dot 12 yards out, but not before Leahy was subbed out for Amanda Weinberger, who earned her stripes during the Eastern Nazarene shootout by saving a Lion penalty and then scoring one herself.

In the end, Weinberger was powerless to prevent the Roger Williams players from converting all of their spot kicks, which, combined with a pair of Wentworth misses, enabled the top-seeded Hawks to scoop up the title 4-1 on penalties.

Even though the Leopards came up just short in winning the Commonwealth Coast title against all odds, Leahy and the Wentworth eleven will still be playing post-season soccer, with the team being selected to compete in the ECAC tournament for the first time in nine years.

Seeded sixth in the eight-team field, Wentworth’s first assignment will be an away clash against Westfield State on Wednesday afternoon, with the winner moving on to a semifinal match against the winner of the game between the University of New England and Emmanuel.

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