After a much appreciated five-day break from competition, the Geneseo women's soccer team defeated visiting Westminster College on Sunday Sept. 18 by a score of 2-0, recording their sixth consecutive win.
The 0-0 halftime score did not paint an accurate picture of the possession and control Geneseo had throughout the opening 45 minutes. Geneseo was able to control possession, but failed to capitalize on its scoring chances. Senior Melanie Rocchio broke through for Geneseo and scored off a cross from fellow senior Kelly Bergin with 23 minutes remaining in the contest.
"I think our speed of play was still good and we created a lot of opportunities. We just didn't capitalize on the opportunities that we created … not scoring earlier and letting them stay in the game was the most frustrating," said head coach Nate Wiley.
The slow start may have been because of the abnormal Sunday afternoon game time. With Sunday typically being the team's off day, coach Wiley tried to keep their practices leading up to the game as close to routine as possible. While the Sunday afternoon start did not result in a lack of effort from Geneseo, a slight lack of focus was evident at times. This drop in focus was most evident at the end of attacks when Geneseo squandered a handful of chances that, in most cases, would have been buried in the back of the net.
Even though Geneseo did not play as well as they have been in the past few weeks, Wiley said it best by stating, "Good teams figure out ways to win even when they aren't having great days … It was a sign of character that we could get a result even when we aren't playing at the top of our game."
According to Wiley, part of the reason why Geneseo was able to win when they weren't playing their best was because of the number of players that are capable of finishing a goal at any point of the game.
"Our frontline has been doing a great job scoring goals … and they have really been spreading it around. This year we have our top two scorers from last year, plus three or four others we know that can score goals for us," Wiley said.
With 15 minutes, 1 second left in the game, junior Emily Novak scored her fourth goal of the year, blasting home a rebound off a shot from classmate Shannon Spusta. Geneseo dominated Westminster in all facets of the game with a 23-3 advantage in shots and a 10-1 lead in corner kicks. Sophomore goalkeeper Julia Sanger only needed to show up in order to record her first shutout of the season, as Westminster was not able to put any of its shots on net.
The now 6-1-0 Knights look ahead to a competitive weekend as they begin conference play, traveling to SUNY Fredonia on Friday Sept. 23 and Buffalo State College on Saturday Sept. 24.