NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. (Sept. 4, 2016) – The scoreboard failed to favor the Molloy College women's soccer team once again as Bentley University won its second consecutive shutout, knocking off the Lions by a 3-0 score on Sunday (Sept. 4) at the Merrimack Kickoff Classic.

The Falcons (2-0) struck for an early marker in the seventh minute of play as senior forward Jamie Grinavic (North Attleboro, Mass.) snuck a shot past sophomore keeper Brianna Wilson (Levittown, N.Y.); the unassisted marker put Molloy (0-2) in an early hole that would prove to be insurmountable. The main reason for the Falcons' dominance was the play of junior goalie Deirdre Macrorie (Winchester, Mass.), who stonewalled senior forward Danielle Valente (South Setauket, N.Y.) in the 13^th minute and then parried attempts by Sam Bernieri (Massapequa, N.Y.) in the 39^th and 43^rd minute. Wilson, meanwhile, did a nice job keeping Molloy in the first half as she had a couple of big saves midway through the opening frame of action as well; this included a save on senior forward Ana Tantum (Trumbull, Conn.), who had a seven-point effort in a 5-0 win over Dominican (N.Y.) on Friday.

Neither side could get a quality scoring chance to start the second half, but Molloy had two attempts after the hour mark of the game. Valente put an attempt on goal right at the 60-minute mark of the contest, but the shot rang off the post and bounced away. Macrorie would come up huge four minutes later to stop a shot off the foot of Katlyn Merino (Corona, N.Y.). That would prove to be the last chance for Molloy to equalize the contest due to the efforts of freshman midfielder Stephanie Helin (Manchester, Conn.). Helin scored her first and second career collegiate goals in the 79^th and 81^st minutes off of assists from Alyssa Valente (New Canaan, Conn.) and Riane Hunt (Mills, Mass.) as Bentley cruised to a 3-0 win.

In the loss, Molloy outshot the opposition by an 11-8 margin and won five corner kicks to Bentley's two. Valente had four shots and Bernieri took three attempts with each player having two shots on goal. Wilson stopped three shots in net but Bentley was able to have a total of six shots on goal, led by three from Tantum. Helin and Valente each had two shots and Grinavic's lone shot was the game-winning goal. Macrorie picked up her second clean sheet of the season with a five-save performance.

The maroon and white will open up the home portion of its 2016 schedule on Tuesday (Sept. 6) in the first game of a soccer doubleheader against Caldwell University. The kickoff is set for 4 p.m. at RVC Sports Complex. Be sure to follow along with the game on www.MolloyLions.com as well on all forms of social media to find out the latest on your Molloy Lions!