Western New England Plays to 1-1 Draw with Castleton

Junior Iman Shehemi scores team-leading third goal of season for Golden Bears

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (September 11, 2016) – The Western New England University women's soccer team played to a 1-1 draw with Castleton University this afternoon in non-conference action at Suprenant Field.

Top Performers
• Junior forward Iman Shehemi (Feeding Hills, Mass.) scored her team-leading third goal of the season and put a game-high three shots on target.
• Making her first collegiate start, freshman goalkeeper Alexandra Lemekha (Stamford, Conn.) was solid in net, making four saves on the five shots that she faced.

• Senior Eva Clark (St. Albans, Vt.) came through with the late equalizer for Castleton, her first goal of the season.

Match Review
• The Spartans were unable to convert on an early scoring opportunity, as junior Kiley Baran (Granby, Mass.) had a good look at the net following a corner kick by classmate Kaitie Sanders (Chittenden, Vt.) just 42 seconds into the contest, but her shot sailed high over the crossbar.  
• Western New England took the lead at the 2:57 mark of the first half when Shehemi scored with a right-footed volley at the far post on a corner kick by senior captain Katelyn Cummings (Feeding Hills, Mass.).
• Shehemi nearly doubled the Golden Bears' lead 13:41 into the contest as she found herself alone behind the Castleton defense, but Spartans' senior goalkeeper Jessica Binkowski (Goshen, Conn.) came up with a big save to keep the visitors' deficit at one.
• Castleton pulled even with just 13:17 remaining in the game when Clark buried a shot into the left corner of the net after receiving a cross from senior forward Shelby McLenithan (Bennington, Vt.).
• After an uneventful first overtime session, Western New England forced Binkowski to make a pair of saves in the final ten minute period, but neither team was able to come through with a game-winner.   

Notes
• The Golden Bears held a 14-9 advantage in shots, while Castleton owned a 6-4 edge in corner kicks.

Up Next
Western New England (2-3-1, 0-1 CCC) will be back in action on Tuesday night at Mount Holyoke College, while Castleton (0-3-2, 0-0 NAC) returns home to host MCLA on Wednesday afternoon.