Emmitsburg, Md. (September 17, 2002)--Trailing by two goals just eight minutes into the game, Mount St. Mary's rallied to earn a 2-2 draw with visiting Marist in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference opener at Waldron Family Stadium on campus.  Kayley Kocent and Luisangely Navas each provided the offense while goalkeeper Drew Camp made eight saves in the game.  The Mount is now 1-1-5 overall on the season and 0-0-1 in the MAAC.  The five ties on the year break the program record of four set during the 2005 season.

Marist (2-1-4, 0-0-1 MAAC) came out on fire in the game, scoring a pair of goals in the opening 7:41 of the game.  In the third minute, Nicole Calantuono collected the ball near the six foot line and booted the ball past Camp for the 1-0 advantage.  Just under five minutes later, Marist took advantage of an own goal to take a two-goal lead.  Marist was putting pressure on, and a cross to the middle was put into the goal by a Mount defender to make it 2-0.

Mount St. Mary's took advantage of a set piece to get back into the game in the 26th minute.  The Mount earned a corner kick and Kalli Bell played a short corner to Navas, who dished the ball back to Bell for the cross.  Bell's ball to the middle was headed into the air by Madison Bee, and Kocent followed by heading that attempt to the left of Marist goalkeeper Natalie Kelchner.  Bee and Bell each picked up assists on Kocent's marker.  Bell's assist moves her into a tie for second on the Mount's all-time assist leaderboard with 14 for her career.  Christy Wicks (1994-97) holds the program record with 22 while Bell is tied at 14 with im Henry (2002-05) and Kelli Devine (2004-07). 

Marist continued to have the edge in play in the remainder of the half and held the 2-1 advantage as the team's headed to the locker room.  The Red Foxes outshot the Mount, 9-to-1, in the opening 45 minutes.

The Mountaineers came out strong in the opening moments of the second half, earning an early corner kick opportunity in the 47th minute.  Bell took the kick and sent the ball to the middle, but a Marist defender was able to push the ball out near the top of the penalty area.  Navas collected the ball there and sent a shot that beat Kelchner to her lower right for the equalizer for her second goal of the season.

As the second half went on, the intensity picked up, but neither team was able to find the go-ahead score.  Camp came up with her best save of the day in the 89th minute, coming to for a sliding stop on an Amanda Caldarelli shot to preserve the tie.

For the game, Marist held a 21-to-7 shot advantage, including a 9-to-3 margin in shots on target.  Camp made eight saves for the Mountaineers while Kelchner had one save for the Red Foxes.  The Mount held a 5-to-3 edge in corner kicks.

Mount St. Mary's was announced as the 11^th member of the MAAC on May 2 after a 33-year run in the Northeast Conference, and today's game with Marist was the Mount's first-ever MAAC competition in any sport as a full member of the conference.  Mount St. Mary's returns to action on Saturday, September 24, with a 2:00 p.m. MAAC matchup at Iona.