NEW LONDON, Conn. — 

In the last game of her career at Nitchman Field, and on Senior Day no less, Mia Forti (Madison, Conn.) gave the home crowd a show.

The U.S. Coast Guard Academy women's soccer team went into Saturday's action in ninth on the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) women's soccer table. They needed a win to jump inside the top eight to extend their season. Over the next 90 minutes, Forti recorded a hat trick to power the Bears to a 3-1 win over league rivals Smith College on the final day of the season.

Coast Guard improves to 5-11-3 to end the regular season, with their 4-6-1 record against conference opponents landing them at seventh in the standings, while Smith's season ends at 3-12-2 overall with a NEWMAC record of 2-8-1.

Prior to the game, the Bears honored Forti and her four classmates making up the senior leadership of the team: Lydia Boyer (Gambrills, Md.), Mary Kate Huynh (Grantville, Pa.), Forti's fellow captain Teal Wasson (Kahuku, Hawai'i), and Arwen Wise (Weatherford, Tex.).

The game was scoreless for just 19 minutes. Ellie Millner (Woodbridge, Va.) tapped the ball to Ella Pottle (Epping, N.H.), who played it ahead and into the box to a running Forti, who played it on one touch from the side of the goal box and sent it towards the net. The Bears led, 1-0, after the ball deflected in off of the Smith keeper's glove.

Forti extended her team's lead just before the first half ended. The Bears won a corner in the 43rd, and the initial serve was redirected towards the net by the head of Laurianne Gaillard (Owings, Md.). Gaillard's try was off target, and an attempt to send it back out was made by a Smith defender, but Forti was in the right place at the right time for the volley back in to give herself a first half brace.

Smith got one back post-halftime in the 47th minute after Riley Branford's long free kick into the Bears' goal box was played into net from the head of Una Keller. Coast Guard was able to negate it in the 69th, with the play starting on a great read and steal by Bianca McIntosh (Woodbridge, Va.).

The fleet-footed freshman set off on a dead heat with the ball along the left sideline, eventually getting past the back line and cutting in through the left side of the penalty box. It was a brilliant display of misdirection, as McIntosh drew three defenders her way to allow an open path for Forti, who received a pass from the freshman and fired away for the program's first hat trick since Claire Hurley '20 did it in 2019.

The game was evenly played outside of the final score. Coast Guard held a 15-13 edge in shots taken, but both teams had nine on-target and earned four corner opportunities each. Forti and Smith forward Kaleigh Quinn had seven tries apiece, but Forti held the edge with six on goal to Quinn's five. McIntosh was the only other Bear with multiple shot attempts, tallying two, while Keller was in the same regard for Smith with three tries and two on goal.

Coast Guard was called for nine fouls to Smith's seven, and the Bears were awarded the only yellow card of the game in the 30th minute. Smith used a keeper-by-committee approach in goal, sending out all four of their specialists over the course of the game. Starter in net Sky Smith, who played the majority out of the four, recorded five saves and Blair Pasarkar had one. In the Bears' net, Julia Little (Pensacola, Fla.) put together her second eight-save game of the season.

Bears women's soccer will now turn their attention towards postseason play. As the seventh seed in the NEWMAC Tournament, they'll travel to two-seed Springfield College (9-8, 8-3). The Pride defeated the Bears, 2-1, before dropping back-to-back games to MIT and Wheaton, but have closed out the season on a five-game win streak.