The Geneseo women’s soccer team owns a 1-1 record following a 1-0 loss to Farmingdale State College in the season opener and a 1-0 win against Western Connecticut University. The Knights opened their 2013 campaign on Friday Aug. 30, taking on the host squad Farmingdale State. Geneseo outshot Farmingdale 12-10, but sophomore goalkeeper Breanna Blair stopped all five of the Knights’ shots on target.
“One of the things that we need to work on is finishing,” head coach Nate Wiley said. “We did a tremendous job of creating some good opportunities. Even though for much of the second half we had the better of play, one missed clearance in the backfield led to a goal.”
The Rams converted an opportunity at the 74 minutes, 55 seconds mark, accounting for the game’s only scoring play.
The Knights have an interesting team makeup with nine seniors and 16 new players – 15 freshmen and one transfer student.
“We needed to find a way to get them experience early on,” Wiley said. “Against Farmingdale, I think we did a good job of getting quite a few of the new players onto the field.”
Though that game was a loss for Geneseo, Wiley said he remains optimistic about what he saw and what is to come.
“I thought that was something that really did come through. Not only between the first and secnd half against Farmingdale, but we made some really good adjustments prior to the game with Western Connecticut,” Wiley said.
The action continued on Saturday Aug. 31 when Geneseo notched its first win of the season, defeating the Western Connecticut Colonials, 1-0. The Knights dominated the day, outshooting their opponents 15-4.
With the final minutes ticking away, it looked as though Geneseo might settle for a draw, but sophomore Stephanie Clookey came through as she found the back of the net in the 88th minute.
“We had a lot of good opportunities on Saturday as well, and we finally put one away,” Wiley said. “We worry that the game might end up 0-0, and that was a game that we deserved to win, so it’s nice to actually get a win in that situation.”
Senior goalkeeper Julia Sanger needed to make only one save, and she had her defense to thank for that.
Wiley said that defense was one of the main focuses of the team this year. He added that Sanger would be a large part of that defense not only in terms of play, but also in terms of leadership.
The win over Western Connecticut shows an improvement for the Knights, as the Colonials handed them a 2-0 loss in the second round of last year’s Rams Classic.
“It was a good confidence booster for us,” Wiley said. “To beat them and to dominate the game was a good sign of what’s to come.”
The Knights will look for another victory when they visit Nazareth College on Friday Sept. 6.u