Mutiny Ring in '09 With Win

New England Takes Care of Maine, 4-0, in Season Opener

May 17, 2009

NORTHAMPTON, Mass. � With the bitter taste of last year�s WPSL defeat to SoccerPlus CT still in their mouths, the New England Mutiny opened their 2009 season in convincing fashion, trouncing the Maine Tide, 4-0, at Northampton High School on Saturday.

Erin Clark, a junior at the University of Connecticut, and a second-year starter for the Mutiny, had a breakout game, notching a hat trick to make this game a runaway.

Clark, who scored once in the first half and twice in the second, is quite aware that she is at the center of the change in the Mutiny, a change that places more responsibility on younger shoulders.

�I had a lot of people to look up to last year and now I�m just kind of trying to do what they did for us,� said Clark, who in one game scored half as many goals as she did in 14 starts last year.

It was, however, a newcomer, Windham, Conn. junior Riley Houle, who scored the Mutiny�s first goal of the 2009 season, one that turned out to be the game-winning goal only 1:44 into the game. She was assisted by another newcomer, former High School of Science and Technology star Brittany Barry.

Clark made it 2-0 in the 37th minute, grabbing up a loose ball in front of the Maine goal and beating Tides� goalie Michelle Rich.

Danielle Dakin assisted on Clark�s final goal, finding the attacker on the right flank about 15 yards out from the goal, a place from which Clark dribbled in and beat the goalie to top left corner.