The Geneseo women’s soccer team broke its 11-game losing streak 1-0 on Oct. 12 with a key goal from senior forward Shannon Spusta against SUNY Oswego. The Knights did not fall to SUNY Cortland either, who they played on Oct. 13. The game ended in a 1-1 tie.
The wind was blowing when the two teams stepped onto the pitch in Oswego. Head coach Nate Wiley said the conditions greatly helped the Knights’ attack throughout the game.
“We had the wind on our back in the first half which really generated a lot of attack,” Wiley said.
Geneseo shot the ball three times and had four corner kick opportunities in the first half. Geneseo’s lone goal from Spusta also came in the first half.
According to Wiley, Spusta tracked the ball down the left side, cut back and faced a defender one-on-one, shooting past the goalie at a sharp angle to score.
The goal won the game for Geneseo with a shutout. Wiley said that despite winning the game, the Knights could have scored more goals.
Junior Alexa Vojvodic shot the ball just once, but her shot was on goal.
It looked like an opportunity to score but “goalkeeper [Emily Varonier] actually made a really nice save on Vojvodic’s shot. I definitely thought it was going in off of a corner kick,” Wiley said.
The Knights sought to ride their wave of momentum into the game against the Cortland Red Dragons.
Although the Knights came out with a 1-1 tie, “Saturday was the first time that [the team] came back from a deficit and didn’t lose,” Wiley said. They were, however, unable to come up with a win despite Spusta’s tying goal in the 57th minute.
“The goal we scored was just a beautiful play,” Wiley said. Junior Kelly Quinn received the ball with her back to the goal, spun and passed it to Spusta who took a “great far-post shot … The goalkeeper [Taylor Hudson] didn’t even have a chance at it,” he added.
Cortland took 21 shots, but only three were on goal.
“It was deceptive,” Wiley said. “They were a team that had shot selections that weren’t the greatest. They took a lot of shots that they shouldn’t have.”
Geneseo seeks to extend its winning streak with home games against SUNY Plattsburgh on Oct. 19 and SUNY Potsdam on Oct. 20.