Elmira, Hartwick, Ithaca and Naz Secure Wins
Ithaca 4, Stevens 0
The No. 5 Ithaca College women's soccer team (14-1-0, 6-0-0 E8) defeated Stevens (8-8-0, 4-2-0 E8) Saturday afternoon, dropping the Ducks by a score 4-0 at Carp Wood Field on senior day. Senior
Ellyn Grant-Keane, sophomore
Kelsey King, junior
Jessie Warren and freshman
Jocelyn Ravesi all scored for the Bombers.
Sophomore
Beth Coppolecchia started the game, making four saves in 75:06 of play. Senior
Becca Lewis finished the contest, stopping the only shot she faced to complete the Bomber shutout.
Grant-Keane started the scoring for Ithaca, netting her third goal of the season in the 18th minute on a feed from fellow senior
Anna Gray. The Bombers scored again in the 32nd minute, as King beat the Ducks' goalkeeper for her team-leading 10th goal of the season. Neither team scored again in the opening frame, giving the Bombers a 2-0 lead at the half.
Ithaca continued to roll in the second stanza. The Bombers scored two-straight goals, starting with Warren's first of the season on a feed from King in the 53rd minute. Ravesi closed out the scoring for Ithaca, netting her first-career goal with just under 14 minutes left to play in the game. Senior
Jamie Ruddy assisted on Ravesi's goal, marking her first point of the season and securing the 4-0 win for Ithaca.
Elmira 3, Alfred 0
The Elmira College women's soccer team (4-9-1, 2-3-1 Empire 8) scored three first-half goals but only needed one as they completely shut down visiting, Alfred Unviersity (5-11, 0-6 Empire 8), in their 3-0 win Saturday afternoon.
Emily Karpinski '14 had quite the showing on her senior day as she scored two goals, including the game-winner.
It was clear that the Soaring Eagles were glad to be home after losing back-to-back games on the road as they played with a great amount of intensity from the opening whistle. They applied pressure to the Saxon players all over the pitch which resulted in complete domination of possession and shots for EC throughout the game.
The first Elmira score came in the 10th minute when Karpinski blasted a one-timer from the top of the box into the upper-left hand corner of the goal.
Emily Kelly '14 set up the goal with a nice back pass to her open classmate. Just about 15 minutes later, the Soaring Eagles would strike again. This time,
Kelsie DeKarski '14 fed a through ball to
Mollie Hamilton'15 who executed her one-on-one with Saxon keeper, Samijo Scheer, to perfection. The final goal of the half was an absolute beauty as
Kerri Wertman '17 found Karpinski in the box for a header that easily beat Scheer. EC took the 3-0 lead into the half.
The final 45 minutes was much of the same for both teams, just without any goals being scored. The Soaring Eagles put several great looking balls on frame in the second half, but Scheer came up with some marvelous saves to keep it a 3-0 game which stood until the final horn.
Elmira outshot Alfred 34-1, both of which were numbers an EC women's soccer team has seen in some time. The 34 shots were the most the Soaring Eagles have had since September 20, 2011 when they hosted this same Saxons team and the single shot given up was also the fewest shots allowed since September 19, 2012 when they faced one shot at Alfred.
Hartwick 2, St. John Fisher 1
The Hartwick women's soccer team scored two early first half goals and made it hold up as the Hawks came away with a huge 2-1 victory over St. John Fisher at a cold and windy Elmore Field on Saturday afternoon. The win was significant as it marks the first victory over the Cardinals since 2003. Hartwick ups its record to 7-6-3 overall and 2-3-1 in the Empire 8 while Fisher falls to 8-10 overall and 3-3 in the E8.
Hartwick was granted a corner kick in the 15
th minute.
Kylie Thayer's attempt was pushed back by Cardinal goalie Brooke Seavitt to
Angela Luizzi who would settle the ball and pass to
Jessica Bentley. Bentley backfooted the ball to
Nicolette Wilson whose initial shot was stopped but she put in the rebound to give the Hawks the 1-0 lead.
The Hawks would strike again just inside of the 18
th minute. Thayer's long kick from midfield got past the Fisher defense and
Cristina Sicari found herself one-on-one with a diving Seavitt and deposited the ball in the back of the net to put 'Wick ahead with an early 2-0 lead.
The Cardinals nearly scored their first goal of the game in the 29
th minute. Fisher's Krista Pilla hit a corner kick that was headed by Ciara Vitallo but
Mary Morrison was there to knock it out of play.
Hartwick almost tacked on its third goal of the game just before halftime. Thayer hit a long kick from the left sideline that Seavitt knocked down and Luizzi put up a shot that went to the net and almost over the hands of Seavitt, who again rejected the ball and the ball, and fell in front of Morrison, who was stopped by Seavitt.
In the second half, the Cardinals would not have to wait long to get on the scoreboard. Fisher's Carly Finn passed to Molly Beaton who got past Hartwick goalie
Annie Millar and scored to make it a 2-1 contest.
Fisher dominated the rest of the half as they attacked the Hartwick zone but the Hawks' defense would not relent and stood firm. Millar stopped three shots in the second frame to keep the 'Wick lead intact.
The Cardinals had a chance to tie the game and send it into overtime. With four seconds left, Fisher was granted a corner kick and with time winding down, Jamie Alloco headed the ball toward the net but it went wide and the Hawks walked away with the victory.
St. John Fisher led in shots 23-8 and held a narrow 10-7 shots on goal. The Cardinals had a wide lead in corner kicks, 11-1.
Millar had her second straight solid start in goal as she turned away nine shots for the Hawks. Seavitt had five saves for the Cardinals.
Nazareth 3, Utica 1
Freshmen
Elisa Marchione and
Michaela Soules each had a goal and an assist Saturday as visiting Nazareth scored a 3-1 women's soccer victory over Utica at an Empire 8 Conference game at Charles Gaetano Stadium.
Nazareth improved to 10-4-2 overall and 6-1 in conference play. Nazareth will be the second seed for next month's E8 Tournament that will be hosted by Ithaca. The victory marked the 17th time in the past 19 seasons that the Golden Flyers have won 10 games or more in a season. It was Nazareth's eighth straight win over the Pioneers, who dropped to 3-11-2 overall and 1-6 in the E8.
The Golden Flyers have two non-conference games left -- both at home. Nazareth hosts fourth-ranked William Smith (13-1-0) Tuesday at 3:30 p.m. and 16th-ranked Skidmore (10-2-2) Saturday at 3 p.m.
Nazareth set the tone early as Soules delivered a perfect through pass to junior
Elizabeth Howell in the third minute and Howell completed the play by sliding a shot past Utica keeper Jamie Enders for her fourth goal of the season.
Soules made it 2-0 by converting a pass from Marchione in the 15th minute. Marchione's pass deflected off a defender, then Soules placed a shot inside the left post.
Utica's Sarah Southwell put the Pioneers on the scoreboard less than five minutes later as she knocked home a rebound of a shot by Alana Fitzpatrick. Nazareth's
Bethany Novak made the initial save, but couldn't cover up the rebound as Southwell booted the ball into the open goal.
Marchione accounted for the lone second-half goal as she converted a pass from senior
Anne Czelusniak in the 68th minute for her fifth goal of the season. Nazareth generated more chances later in the second half, including a shot by senior
Olivia Derleth that hit the goal post, but the Golden Flyers settled for the 3-1 win.
Nazarethh had a 26-12 edge in shots and a 4-1 advantage in corner kicks. Novak played the first 76 minutes and had seven saves. Sophomore
Mackenzie Dunphy played the balance of the game and didn't need to make a save. Enders finished with eight saves for the Pioneers.
Houghton 0, Rochester 0
Houghton women's soccer played to a scoreless draw with the University of Rochester on Saturday to wrap up its regular season schedule.
The game was evenly played, with Houghton holding a 16-14 edge in shots. Shots on goal were even at six apiece.
Stephany Ellison led the Highlanders with eight shots, including three on goal.
Shawna Sprout made six saves in net.