NEW LONDON, Conn. — 

The U.S. Coast Guard Academy women's soccer was defeated, 0-2, by Wellesley College in their NEWMAC opener on Saturday. Coast Guard moves to 1-5-2 (0-1-0), while Wellesley improves to 4-2-1 (1-0-0). The Blue will take on the University of Hartford (4-2-1) in their next one on Wednesday, September 24th.

Wellesley took the game's first advantage in the 35th minute after a Blue corner kick which was pushed out of the box. Mae Nephew met it and was able put enough top spin on the ball to cause a weird bounce over Bears goalkeeper Julia Little (Pensacola, Fla.) and into the net. The visitors delivered the dagger in the 83rd, after Mia Lambert (Rome, Italy) did the only thing she could do on a one-verses-one situation in the box and delivered a hard challenge. Her attempt was met with a yellow card and a penalty kick attempt for Wellesley, and Elena Garcia met the call by putting it past Little and through the bottom right corner.

The loss was an unlucky one for Coast Guard, who held a 14-5 advantage on shots taken and an 8-2 lead in shots on goal. Ellie Millner (Woodbridge, Va.) was the team leader in shots taken with four and tied with classmate Bianca McIntosh (Woodbridge, Va.) with two shots on goal. Wellesley wound up with the slight 3-2 edge in corner kicks, while the Bears were whistled for nine fouls to the visiting side's four. Wellesley's Hillary Gonzalez was awarded the only other card in the game, drawing yellow for a hard foul in the 43rd minute.

Women's soccer will have another shot at their first NEWMAC win of 2025 next Saturday, September 27th, as the away team at Babson College (2-0-3). The Beavers received votes in the latest edition of the United Soccer Coaches Poll, while the Bears will be looking for an improvement on last season's scoreless tie in New London.