MOUNT BERRY, Ga. - The Berry College women's soccer team improved to 4-0 on the season with a 9-0 victory over the Johnson & Wales University Wildcats behind Gianna Maimone's record-breaking four assists in one game.Â
She broke the previous program record of three assists in a single game, which was set on October 22, 2016 by Megan Rodosta against Oglethorpe.
Her first assist of the contest came on the Vikings first goal. With her back to the net in the 16th minute, she made a perfect pass to Laina Engelbart, who kicked it into the wide open net to make it 1-0.
Much like their previous match against Agnes Scott, the Vikings possessed the ball for the vast majority of the game, which allowed them to score another quick goal at 25:21. Elcee Leslein hustled for a loose ball outside the box, and fired a shot that found the back of the net for her first career goal.
Berry took that two-goal lead into halftime, but they exploded for seven goals in the second half to turn a close match into a blowout. Anna Robbins took advantage of a Wildcat turnover in their own end to score on an empty net and make it 3-0 at 49:46, but the next three goals were all assisted by Maimone.
She assisted Zoe Graham's goal in the 69th minute that made it 4-0, then assisted Grace Blanchard's goal in the 75th minute to make it 5-0, and finally put her name in the record books just four minutes later by assisting Ide Strickland's goal to make it 6-0 Berry.
After that sixth goal, the Vikings added three more to reach the final score of 9-0 thanks to excellent play from Blanchard, Giselle Aitken, and Heidi Swain.
Maimone was the star of today's game with those four assists, but she had plenty of help too. Blanchard finished with two goals of her own, Aitken had one goal and one assist, and six other Vikings found the back of the net.Â
Although the offense was incredible once again, the team's defense was equally as impressive. They held the Wildcats to zero shots on goals and zero corner kicks for the whole game, spending the majority of the game in opponent territory.Â
Overall, the Vikings finished with 30 total shots, 15 shots on goal, eight corner kicks, and committed just two fouls.
The Vikings will remain at home for their next game on Wednesday, September 16 against the No. 2 Emory University Eagles. Kickoff is scheduled for 6 p.m.
