Fortunately for Hartford, the team will have many returning starters next season. Courtesy of HartfordHawks.com

The University of Hartford Women’s soccer team faced off against the University of Vermont Catamounts this past Thursday in the America East Quarter-finals.

The Hawks went on to win 2-1.

With just under 10 minutes played in the game, Hartford got its first scoring opportunity. Junior midfielder Stephanie Santos served the ball into the box about six yards from the goal.

The ball was then headed by defender Amanda Hamilton but it went just right of the goal.

On their first corner kick of the night, the Catamounts made a run for the goal as freshman midfielder Paige Phillips took a shot on the goal from the opposite side of the box.

The Catamounts then got their second straight shot attempt at around the 20-minute mark.

Catamount freshman forward Nikki McFarland got a missed clear by Hartford, which she then shot off the opposite post for a goal, giving the Catamounts a 1-0 lead.

Within the next two minutes, Hartford looked to even the score as they took two shots on the goal.

Junior midfielder Chanel Johnson took a shot on the goal,   which flew to the right and was then followed by a shot from senior forward Arielle Aikens which gave the Catamounts keeper, senior Morgan Nichols, her first save of the night.

With 11 minutes remaining in the first half, Hartford gained another scoring opportunity.

Sophomore forward Elise Galipo got a pass from Johnson and then proceeded to get past a pair of defenders before firing a shot on the goal which Nichols blocked for her second save of the evening.

In the 37 minute, the Hawks got their fourth corner kick of the half.

Santos served the ball far into the box where freshman defender Caitlin Smallfield shot it into the upper right hand corner of the goal, which tied the game at 1-1.

It was also Smallfield’s first goal as a Hawk.

Hartford made two more shots on goal in the final ten minutes of the first half. Johnson attempted a header off a corner kick from Santos, which was blocked by Nichols.

The second shot came from Hamilton whose shot on the goal forced Nichols to make a stop.

Hartford went into the half with a 9-3 shot advantage over the Catamounts.

In the 59 minute, Santos got a free kick opportunity, which she managed to get over Nichols and stayed under the crossbar for the game-winning goal.

Santos got a corner kick a few minutes later, which was then headed by Hamilton.

The header went over the crossbar ending the scoring opportunity.

Hartford got one more scoring opportunity that night forcing Nichols to make her fifth save of the evening.

With the win over the Catamounts in the quarter-finals, the Hawks went on to face the UMBC Retrievers in the semi-finals at Retrievers Soccer Park on Sunday at 1 p.m.

The game ended with a final score of 2-0 in favor of UMBC.

Hartford had six shots on goal going into the half, a couple of which came close to getting past UMBC keeper, senior Lauren Kadet.

Eight minutes into the first half, Santos took Hartford’s first shot on the night on which Kadet recorded a save.

On the first corner kick of the game, Santos fired the ball into the six-yard box where Johnson managed to deflect it towards the goal.

The ball was blocked by Kadet for her second save of the night.

In the 13 minute of the game, UMBC sophomore defender Alexa Quaranta scored the first goal of the game.

Sophomore midfielder Nikki Boretti kicked the ball to her right at which point Quaranta shot the ball into the upper right hand corner of the goal.

UMBC’s second goal came in the 38 minute when junior defender Morgan Taylor took a shot from 30 yards out.

The shot was knocked down by the Hawks keeper, freshman Jessica Jurg, but it was over the end line and was ruled as a goal.

Hartford received another chance to score following UMBC’s second goal. Sophomore midfielder Sidney Spremullo took the ball down the field off of a restart and fired 23 yards from the goal, which just missed to the left.

With less than 27 minutes remaining in the second half, the Hawks had two scoring opportunities.

Smallfield attempted a header off of a restart from Santos, which went over the crossbar.

The second opportunity occurred when Johnson deflected a corner kick and fired a shot through four defenders from the six-yard box, which was then saved by Kadet.

The loss to UMBC marked the end of Hartford’s season, in which they held an overall record of 11-6-3.