By Jim Fenton
BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- The Bridgewater State University women's soccer team dropped its season-opening game on Friday afternoon at Mazzaferro Field.
Facing North Central College for the first time, the Bears allowed five unanswered goals in the final 51:36 and lost to the visitors from Naperville, Ill., 7-2.
The Cardinals are the preseason pick to repeat as champions of the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin. They won the regular-season and tournament championships for the first time last season, going 18-2-1 overall, 8-0-0 in the CCIW, and advancing to the NCAA Tournament.
The game was even at 2-2 less than 30 minutes into the first half before North Central took over for the victory.
Graduate student Elle Sutter (Peoria, Ill.) had a pair of goals and two assists to lead the Cardinals, who reached the NCAA Division 2 tourney for the first time last year.
Sophomore Madison DeVriendt (San Gabriel, Calif.) also scored twice while senior Gabriella Galvez (Darien, Ill.) chipped in with a pair of assists.
Graduate student Emily McCormack (East Bridgewater, Mass.) and senior Sydney Dewhurst (East Bridgewater, Mass.) were the BSU goal scorers in the opening 28:18. McCormack was playing her first game for the Bears after playing at UMass Amherst.
BSU took a 1-0 lead just 3:29 into the season when McCormack netted a goal, assisted by freshman Hope Montgomery (Abington, Mass.). McCormack got behind the defense, dribbled around the netminder and deposited a shot into the open cage.
North Central tied the game with 10:08 elapsed when DeVriendt scored from Sutter and the Cardinals went up, 2-1, as graduate student Sarah Andrey (St. Charles, Ill.) netted a goal from Galvez at 23:54.
BSU tied it less than five minutes later when Dewhurst scored off a restart as she blasted a shot inside the left post from 40 yards out.
With less than seven minutes to go in the half, North Central took the lead for good as Sutter converted a penalty kick.
The Cardinals made it 4-2 with only 18 seconds gone in the second half on a goal by sophomore Jordan Lange (Aurora, Ill.), assisted by Sutter.
The lead went to 5-2 just over two minutes later on a goal by Sutter, assisted by senior Madelyn Camaioni (New Lenox, Ill.).
North Central increased the margin to 6-2 on a Devriendt goal, assisted by junior Yazmin Martinez (St. Charles, Ill.) at the 54-minute mark.
Junior Kassandra Salviola (Naperville, Ill.) finished the scoring at 65:58, assisted by Galvez.
Bears starting junior goalie Logan Levesque (Bristol, R.I.) made five saves while senior Tori Gemellaro (Wilmington, Mass.) played the final 30 minutes and had two stops.
North Central graduate student Jordan Boyd (St. Charles, Ill.) stopped three shots. The Cardinals held a 14-5 edge in shots on goal.
The two-game trip to Massachusetts continues for North Central when it plays at Endicott College on Sunday at noon.
The Bears play their first road game on Sept. 7, traveling to Rhode Island to take on Salve Regina University.