Elmira, Houghton, Naz and Stevens End Regular Season With Wins
ELMIRA 4, Utica 0
The Elmira College women's soccer team got a goal in the seventh minute and never looked back, rolling to a 4-0 shutout victory over Utica College. With the win, EC has secured a winning record in the regular season and are now eligible for postseason play for the first time since 2005.
Needing a win or a tie to maintain eligibility for the ECAC Tournament, the Soaring Eagles came out firing on all cylinders. Elmira's first scoring play came on a build-up just over six minutes into the game. After regaining possession near midfield,
Niki Lemper '17 sent a long ball over the top of the defense to
Danielle Fournier '15 who ran it down in the area to the left of the goal. Fournier made one defender miss near the end-line, took two dribbles, and then played the ball to the top of the 18-yard box where
Mackenzie Donohue '15 was making a run. Donohue blasted the one-time shot into the upper-right corner of the net, putting EC on top, 1-0.
It did not take long for the Purple and Gold to double their lead as this time it was Fournier who would find the back of the net just 13 minutes later. A give-and-go between Fournier and
Mollie Hamilton '15 gave Fournier a one-on-one with the Utica goalkeeper. Fournier slid the ball under the arms of the keeper, making it 2-0 in favor of the Soaring Eagles.
Already down 2-0, Utica's chances for making a comeback dropped as the Pioneers saw one of their players sent off with a second yellow card, forcing them to play with just 10 women for the remaining 57:20 of the game. EC took full advantage of the man-up situation, scoring their third goal of the evening less than one minute after the disqualification. Getting in on the action was
Melanie English '15 who would score off a corner kick play. The service from
Amy Sullivan'18 traveled to the back post and settled at the feet of
Allie Olsen '16. Olsen sent a quick pass to English, who was standing at the six-yard box, and then watched as her senior captain finished the play for her second goal of the season.
With EC comfortably ahead, 3-0, the pace of play slowed down as the Soaring Eagles looked to just maintain possession. Now into the second half, Fournier would put the exclamation point on Elmira's win with her second goal, an unassisted goal, in the 70th minute. EC would hold that 4-0 advantage for the final 20 minutes of play to close out the victory.
The Soaring Eagle defense limited the action saw by starting goaltender
Amanda Banner '17, who returned to the net after a one-game absence. Banner stopped the only shot she saws all game, leading to her fourth shutout of the season. With tonight's shutout, Banner is now tied for ninth in EC history for shutouts in a season and tied for seventh in Elmira history with six career shutouts.
HOUGHTON 4, St. John Fisher 1
Houghton women's soccer scored four goals over a seven-minute span to take a 4-0 regular season-ending win over St. John Fisher College on Saturday.
The Cardinals actually jumped out in front in the 36th minute, but Houghton's Sarah Gabriele took a pass from freshman Nikki Garns to pull the Highlanders back even a minute before the end of the first half. The Cardinals outshot the Highlanders 6-4 in the first half.
he second half was another story, as the Highlanders took just a minute to take the lead on a goal by Stephany Ellison. Garns again got the assist. Three-and-a-half minutes later, it was Abby Schmidt's turn, as the sophomore followed up a hard shot by Gabriele to put in her first of the year. Garns closed the scoring just 52 seconds later when Darlene Eckhardt sent a cross to the top of the box. Ellison headed the ball down and Garns was there to close out the play.
Shawna Sprout made several diving stops to keep the Cardinals from putting more scores on the board. She finished with six stops on the afternoon.
STEVENS 1, Hartwick 0
Senior
Georgia Johnson of the Stevens Institute of Technology women's soccer team scored in the 54
th minute Saturday to lead the Ducks to a 1-0 win over Hartwick College.
The win puts Stevens' record at 11-6 while Hartwick fell to 7-9-1.
Hartwick came out strong with shots on goal in the fourth and ninth minutes, but Stevens freshman goalie
Lindsey Mahnken made the save on both to keep the game scoreless.
The Ducks answered, and were responsible for all the offensive action over the next 15 minutes with five shots. Sophomore
Raba Nassif unleashed two that were both saved while senior
Ann Heine's header in the 20
th minute also found the hands of Hartwick senior keeper Annie Millar.
Another header by freshman
Morgan Lynn was blocked before defense took precedence over the last 12 minutes to send the game into the break scoreless.
Despite not having a goal, the Ducks offense outshot Hartwick 8-2 in the half.
After three Stevens shots in the first nine minutes of the second half failed to reach the back of the net, the Ducks were able to break through in minute 54. Off a pass from Heine, Johnson beat a lunging Millar to the top right of the net for the score. The goal was the third of the year for Johnson while Heine gained her team leading seventh assist of the season.
The lead was plenty for the Ducks defense which allowed just one more shot on goal in the half which was saved by Mahnken.
Mahnken made three saves in the winning effort while the Ducks offense outshot Hartwick 17-5.
NAZARETH 2, Skidmore 1
Visiting Nazareth used a pair of second-half goals to overcome an early deficit Saturday as the Golden Flyers edged Skidmore, 2-1, in a non-conference women's soccer match. The game marked the regular-season finale for the 19th-ranked Golden Flyers, who finished 13-3-2. Skidmore dropped to 5-9-2.
The Golden Flyers' second-half rally Saturday helped avert a potential disaster after Skidmore took a 1-0 lead on an own goal in the opening minute of play. A crossing pass by Skidmore's Arena Manning deflected off Nazareh defender
Dana Donnelly and into the goal. The Golden Flyers came into the game having allowed just one goal over their four previous games, including a 0-0 tie at eighth-ranked William Smith last Tuesday.
The score stayed the same until midway through the second half when junior
Courtney Malia netted the equalizing goal for her second tally of the season. Malia collected a loose ball 25 yards from the goal and blasted s shot through traffic that found the bottom left corner of the net. Nazareth kept up the intensity by outshooting the Thoroughbreds 11-1 in the second half and 17-6 for the game.
The perseverance paid off when sophomore
Michaela Soules scored the game-winning goal with 5:30 to go for her fifth tally of the season. The play initiated from the right wing, where
Christine Belding's cross-field pass landed on the foot of
Kaitlyn Sowyrda. Sowyrda's intial shot was deflected, but Soules alertly kicked in the rebound to give Nazareth the lead.
Nazareth was able to put the finishing touches on the victory as Skidmore was unable to generate a shot in the closing minutes. Sophomore
Allison Dobles gained the victory in goal for Nazareth as she was credited with three saves. Deirdre Walsh made six saves for Skidmore.
|
SCHOOL |
CONF |
OVERALL |
|
Ithaca |
7-1 |
13-3 |
|
Nazareth |
7-1 |
14-2-2 |
|
Stevens |
6-2 |
11-6 |
|
St. John Fisher |
4-4 |
6-11-1 |
|
Elmira |
3-3-2 |
7-6-3 |
|
Hartwick |
3-4-1 |
7-9-1 |
|
Houghton |
3-4-1 |
9-6-1 |
|
Utica |
1-7 |
5-11-1 |
|
Alfred |
0-8 |
3-13-2 |