Quick Hits

·          The Hawks improve to 17-9-5 all-time in season openers, while under 11th year head coach John Natale the Hawks are 3-4-4 in the opening game.

·          The Hawks have now won their last two season openers, both against Bryant, while they have gone undefeated in their last four season openers.

·          The season opening goal for Chanel Johnson is the earliest she has scored in a season at Hartford. The goal is the 10th of her career.

·          Raelynn Mikell, a fifth-year senior, scored her first collegiate point when she provided a pass through the midfield that Johnson finished off for the game-winning goal.

·          Overall, the Hawks finished with a 15-9 shot advantage against Bryant, including a 7-2 margin in the first 45 minutes.

·          Senior keeper Alison Koerkenmeier was forced to make four saves in the season opener. This is the second straight season opening victory for Koerkenmeier who also posted a 1-0 victory last year against Bryant.

Full Release

SMITHFIELD, R.I. – Senior Chanel Johnson scored in the 20th minute, leading the University of Hartford women's soccer team to a 1-0 season opening victory over Bryant. The Hawks complete the season opening weekend with a Sunday afternoon matinee at NJIT at 1 p.m.

The Hawks needed just two previous attempts before putting the first goal of the 2014 season in the books courtesy of the 2013 America East Striker of the Year, Johnson. Senior defender Raelynn Mikell sent a ball through the midfield where Johnson headed her attempt over the Bulldogs keeper for her first goal of the season in the 20th minute.

Hartford's first shot of the game came 67 seconds into the action when Johnson forced Bryant keeper Kaitlyn Spangler to make her first stop of the game. Six minutes later defender Emily Donnelly sent an attempt over the crossbar, while 12 minutes after that the Hawks broke through with Johnson's score.

The Hawks threatened again in the 27th minute when sophomore striker Aaliyah Ingram fired a shot that deflected off of the crossbar ending the threat. Hartford would send two additional shots in before the intermission, taking a 7-2 shot advantage into halftime. Hawks keeper Alison Koerkenmeier closed out the opening half with one save.

Coming out of the break, Hartford kept the pressure on the Bulldogs with Kristen McAdams providing the first opportunity of the second half just 41 seconds in. The Hawks didn't let up forcing a corner kick, the fifth of the game, which resulted in another scoring attempt as sophomore Caitlin Smallfield provided a header attempt that went wide of the goal.

The Hawks sent three more attempts towards the goals in the next seven minutes with the second two forcing Conrad to make a pair of saves with Ingram and Donnelly taking the shots. The Bulldogs broke up Hartford offensive onslaught with their first shot of the second half in the 60th minute testing Koerkenmeier who registered her second of the game.

Koerkenmeier would be forced into action on two more occasions, both late in the contest. The first came in the 84th minute as she stopped a shot from Suzanne Sanders, while the final save came with two minutes remaining in the game pulling in a header attempt from Hannah Crofut