WILLIMANTIC, Conn. – The Eastern Connecticut State University women’s soccer team scored twice in a span of eight minutes early in the second half and went on to a 4-0 non-conference victory over Johnson & Wales University Sunday afternoon at Thomas Nevers Field that represented ninth-year head coach Chris D’Ambrosio’s 100th career coaching win.

Seniors Nicole Gaudette (Colchester) and Meghan Ryczek (East Haddam) put Eastern (4-1-0) in control by scoring less than eight minutes apart early in the second half, the goals pushing the Warriors into a 3-0 lead 15 minutes into the second half.

Now 13-0-3 in its last 16 matches at home, Eastern’s seventh straight win over Johnson & Wales (4-2-0) gave D’Ambrosio his 100th women’s soccer coaching win – all of them coming at Eastern. Having taken over as the program’s all-time winningest coach with his 54th career win in 2004, D’Ambrosio now stands at 100-50-12 in 162 matches for a program-best winning mark of .654.

Soon after freshman Jo-Ann Merheb (Bethel) had a headed rebound goal disallowed due to an offside call, freshman Lauren Greeney (Bethel) scored the only goal of the first half in the 9th minute. Gaudette gave Eastern a 2-0 lead 15 minutes into the second half when she drove a free kick from the top of the box to the left of the Johnson & Wales wall inside the left post. Sophomore Alicia DeMaio (Vernon) recorded her first career point with an assist when Merheb beat Wildcat sophomore keeper Kory Blythe (Fall River, MA) with 12 minutes left that rounded out the scoring.

Johnson & Wales freshman forward Samantha Reynolds left the game with a knee injury with 21:23 left. Reynolds has scored six of her team’s 16 goals to date. She took three of her team’s eight shots in the game, her one shot on net proving to be her team’s best chance. Midway through the first half, Reynolds was 1-on-1 with Eastern junior keeper Kim Church (Farmington) after collecting a long pass up the middle and splitting two defenders, but Church came up with the save to preserve Eastern’s 1-0 lead to that point.

Church, who combined on the shutout with freshman Theresa Pagnozzi (Waterford) – who played the final 18 uneventful minutes in her debut– made her second outstanding save of the first half with 18 minutes left when she smothered a doorstep shot by junior Jennifer Paquin. Paquin was attempting to tuck a shot inside the left post after receiving a re-directed pass in the box from sophomore Colleen Marasco off a corner kick by freshman Caitlyn Albert.

D’Ambrosio was named head coach on a part-time basis in 2000 after serving two seasons as an assistant to former head coach Matt Paton. Despite his part-time status, the Coventry native and Andover resident has won more regular-season Little East Conference matches (39) and shares the best winning percentage (.827) among all conference head women’s soccer coaches in the last eight years. He has won or shared two regular-season LEC titles and captured conference playoff championships in 2003 and 2005.

“I think any kind of milestone like (100 wins) is good for the program. Personally, I don’t’ look at those kinds of things”, noted D’Ambrosio. “The big picture is that we have good quality student-athletes who are strong academically, exhibit good citizenship, and have great athleticism. We’re certainly trying to teach the big picture by having our student-athletes going out in the world and making a difference in a positive light, not just athletically.”

Eastern opens conference play Saturday at Plymouth State University at 1 p.m.