ORANGEBURG, N.Y. - A goal by Jill Smith off a free kick in the 79th minute allowed Dominican College to defeat Caldwell College 3-2 in the first-round of the ECAC Women's Soccer Championships Thursday afternoon at Dominican. The loss ends the Cougars' season at 11-8-2, while Dominican (14-5-2), which won the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference Tournament last weekend, advances to Saturday's semifinal against Wilmington College.

Goals by Margaret Denman and Stacey Ryan in the first 20 minutes of the first half gave Dominican a quick 2-0 lead. But the Cougars battled back, cutting the lead in half with a goal by freshman Danielle Shovlin (Allentown, NJ/Notre Dame) just before halftime. Four minutes after the break, sophomore Victoria Aguilera (Merida, Venezuela/Saucon Valley) (pictured) knotted the game at 2-2 with a goal assisted by junior Renata Fonseca (Sao Paulo, Brazil/Essex CC).

The game remained tied until Smith's heroics gave Dominican the victory and avenged an earlier defeat to the Cougars during the regular season.

Junior goalkeeper Richelle Morse (Mount Holly, NJ/Rancocas Valley) and freshman netminder Jen Borden (Hamilton, NJ/Nottingham) split time in goal and combined for five saves. Jill Slesinski made four saves for Dominican.

CC - 1 1 - 2

DC - 2 1 - 3

Scoring Summary: 1. DC - Margaret Denman (Keri Dugan), 10:26. 2. DC - Stacey Ryan (Jill Smith), 19:28. 3. CC - Danielle Shovlin 1 (Carla Bleiler), 42:21. 4. CC- Victoria Aguilera 7 (Renata Fonseca), 48:58. 5. DC - Smith (unassisted), 78:30.
Shots: CC - 10; DC - 15
Saves: CC - Morse  (31:58) 2; Borden (58:02) 3; DC - Slesinski 4
Corners: CC - 3; DC - 5
Fouls: CC - 6; DC - 8

Offsides: CC - 0; DC - 3

Cautions: none