Bombers, Hawks and Highlanders Win E8 Games
HOUGHTON 3, Alfred 0
Houghton responded to their recent three-game losing streak with a 3-0 win over Alfred University in Empire 8 women's soccer action on Wednesday night.
It took a while for the visitors to get going in this contest. Although the Highlanders outshot the Saxons 12-1 in the first half, the teams entered the locker rooms scoreless.
Sarah Gabriele finally got Houghton on the board in the 53rd minute, taking a pass from freshman
Alexis Lamb. Fifteen minutes later the Highlanders got some breathing room when leading scorer
Stephany Ellison tallied her 10th goal of the campaign. Gabriele got the assist.
Ellison got the helper on the team's final goal of the night, an open net tally from
Darlene Eckhardt in the 80th minute.
Shawna Sprout made two saves in goal as the Highlanders outshot the Saxons 20-2.
ITHACA 1, ELMIRA 0
The Ithaca College women's soccer team defeated Elmira Wednesday, dropping the Soaring Eagles by a score of 1-0 at Carp Wood Field. The win improves the Bombers' overall record to 6-1-0, and moves Ithaca's record to 2-0-0 in the Empire 8.
The Soaring Eagles (2-3-2, 0-1-1) defense along with goaltender
Gabe Carmona excelled today, limiting an Ithaca offense that scored six goals in their previous game against Alfred University.
Senior
Kelly Pantason scored for the Bombers, while junior goalkeeper
Beth Coppolecchia stopped all three Elmira shots in the win. Ithaca recorded 19 total shots and held the Soaring Eagles to just five. The win marks Ithaca's fifth shutout of the season.
Strong defensive play carried a 0-0 draw into the closing minutes of the first half. After sustained pressure from Ithaca, sophomore
Jess Demczar took possession of the ball and sent a pass towards the top of the Elmira zone. Pantason took the pass and fired a shot from 30 yards out, beating the Elmira keeper just under the crossbar. Pantason's goal marked her first as a Bomber, and gave Ithaca the 1-0 lead.
The Bombers held the Soaring Eagles scoreless for the remainder of the contest, securing the 1-0 shutout victory.
HARTWICK 3, UTICA 1
Two goals from freshman
Sierra Bentley early and an insurance marker from
Kylie Thayer in the second half gave Hartwick a 3-1 victory over visiting Utica College (4-3-1, 0-2 E8) in an Empire 8 Conference match on Elmore Field Wednesday night. The Hawks improve to 4-2-1 overall and 1-0-1 in the league.
Bentley pumped in her goals 7:05 apart in the opening half to hand the Hawks an early advantage. On the first, a service from the right side from freshman
Ashley Connolly found Bentley in front of goal. She finished to the far post, beating UC keeper Kelly Heimerle at 10:06. It was Bentley's first career goal as a Hawk.
Later, a free kick from the left side by Thayer went deep into the Utica box. Bentley beat all players in the air and her effort beat Heimerle again to the far bar and the Hawks' advantage was two inside of 18 minutes.
The Pioneers caught a break at 31:15 following a corner kick. Keri Berkowitz played the ball in from the flag and a Hawk defender had an attempt at a clearance but it skipped under her foot popping out to Alana Fitzpatrick. She made no mistake, pounding the ball up high and in to pull the Pioneers to within a goal.
In the second half, Bentley nearly got her third on a header two minutes in but it went wide of goal. Thayer also had a shot go inches high of the post for the Hawks.
At the 65:47 mark, Utica was whistled for a high kick in its own box resulting in an indirect kick 12 yards from goal.
Cami Cleaveland touched the ball and Thayer finished it off with a blast up high for her third tally of the season.
The Hawks continued to pressure the Pioneers for the final 24 minutes. Bentley had another chance at her third but Heimerle denied her with a big save.
Utica would fire three shots on goal the rest of the way but none of them troubled 'Wick keeper
Annie Millar, who finished the match with five saves. Heimerle had four stops.
Hartwick outshot Utica 15-9 in the game, including a 9-4 margin in the second half.
STEVENS 2, Drew 0
The Stevens Institute of Technology women's soccer team notched its fourth shutout of the season with a 2-0 victory at Drew University on Wednesday evening.
With the win, Stevens (5-3) avenges a 4-3 overtime loss to Drew last fall and improves its record to 11-2 against the Rangers since 2002. The Ducks have also shutout Drew eight times in that span.
Senior
Ann Heine sent a through-ball to sophomore
Raba Nassif in the 16th minute that led to the first goal of the contest. After Nassif ran down the pass, she beat a defender and dodged Drew's goalkeeper, Sara Nash, to set up an open shot on net for her team-leading seventh goal of the season and second game-winner.
The Ducks dominated the first half of play, outshooting Drew, 13-1, with five on goal. Stevens possessed the ball for a majority of the opening 45 minutes and allowed the Rangers to get within the 18-yard box a handful of times.
Nassif tallied four shots in the first half, and two on goal, while senior
Mariah Cleveland and junior
Carly Bean each took three. Bean would record three more shots in the second 45 minutes with a pair on goal.
Freshman
Lindsey Mahnken stopped one crucial shot in the first half that preserved the lead before being replaced by junior
Evelyn Ting. Ting was not forced to make a save in the second half as the duo combined on the clean slate.
Ten minutes into the second half, Heine put the Ducks up 2-0 with a long strike from over 20 yards out for her second marker of the year. Heine's blast ricocheted down off the crossbar and over the end line around the top left corner of frame.
Stevens was equally impressive in the second stanza, taking 15 more shots and holding the Rangers to a single attempt.
RIT 2, NAZARETH 1
Host RIT rallied on the sgrength of a pair of second-half goals Wednesday to defeat Nazareth in a non-conference women's soccer match, 2-1. The Golden Flyers came into the game ranked 21st nationally in the most recent Division III poll conducted by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America.
The Golden Flyers had a four-game winning streak snapped as they dropped to 6-2 overall. RIT improved to 4-1-3.
The game was even statistically with RIT holding slim advantages in shots (13-12) and corner kicks (5-4). The game was scoreless until the 41st minute when senior
Tori Ryan scored her second goal of the season off a pass from sophomore
Michaela Soules, who leads the team with four assists.
RIT rallied to score twice within a seve-minute stretch early in the second half. Sierra Kiss scored first in the 51st minute unassisted, then Quincey Ornellas scored on a header in the 58th minute with an assist from Sarah Szczepanski.
Sophomore
Allison Dobles played the entire 90 minutes in goal for Nazareth and had four saves. Amanda Murray made five saves for the Tigers.