Palladino's Record-Tying Four Goals Leads Ithaca Past Utica 6-0
Utica, N.Y. -- The #16 women's soccer team (4-1-0, 1-0-0 Empire 8) opened conference play with a 6-0 rout of host Utica (1-4-0, 0-1-0 Empire 8) Wednesday. Sophomore Rachael Palladino (Groton/Lansing) tied a school record with four goals.
Palladino scored Ithaca's first three goals, collecting her first career hat trick in the match's first 22 minutes. Her fourth goal of the contest, which came in the 60th minute, tied Ithaca's single-game record which was set by freshman Jackie Rodabaugh (Central Mountain/Mill Hall, Pa.) four games earlier.
Rodabaugh finished with a career-high three assists (one short of Ithaca's school record), assisting on Palladino's first goal -- just 2:22 in -- and her record-tying score. Palladino has now scored 22 points in five matches (nine goals, four assists) and Rodabaugh has collected 17 (six goals, five assists).
With 53 career points (21 goals, 11 assists), Palladino has already moved into 14th on the program's all-time top 20.
Sophomore Caroline Jastremski (Notre Dame Academy/Staten Island) scored her first goal of the season converting a Rodabaugh pass from 20 yards out in the second half.
Sophomore Kaitlyn Hoffay (Ithaca/Ithaca) closed out the scoring with her first career goal. Freshman Anna Gray (Delmar/Bethlehem) added the assist for her first collegiate point.
Sophomore Julie Winn (Sutton/Sutton, Mass.) picked up an assist for the third match in a row, sending a corner kick that Palladino headed in for her third goal of the game.
Junior Megan Trager (Sharon/Sharon, Mass.) also assisted on a Palladino goal, tipping a pass that led to a breakaway in the 15th minute. The assist was the ninth of her career and her first point of the season.
Ithaca outshot the Pioneers 26-1 with senior Alyssa Sotomayor (East Brunswick/East Brunswick, N.J.) saving Utica's only shot. Sotomayor and sophomore Becca Salant (Holliston/Holliston, Mass.) shared the shutout with Salant's 15:52 in net marking the longest stretch of her career.