The women’s soccer team underwent two consecutive shutout losses this weekend, falling to Nazareth College 2-0 on Friday Sept. 6 and St. John Fisher College 1-0 on Saturday Sept. 7. It’s evident that improvements across the field must be made in order to salvage what has been lost.
Freshman Danielle Wilkin opened the scoring for the Golden Flyers with a goal in the 35th minute and sophomore Kaitlyn Sowyrda capped the scoring, adding a second goal in the 70th minute. The Knights tallied seven shots in the match but could not convert on any of their opportunities.
The Knights had the opportunity to reclaim a .500 record on Saturday Sept. 7 when they faced the Cardinals. Geneseo outshot its opponents 18-17, but St. John Fisher still came away with the win due to a goal in the 39th minute by sophomore Molly Beaton.
Despite the loss, goalkeeper senior Julia Sanger remained a “rock back there,” according to head coach Nate Wiley. “She’s done a tremendous job and has saved every shot that she should have saved so far this season,” Wiley said. He added that she has done a great job with working with a relatively inexperienced back line, making sure that the defense remains efficient and organized.
The Knights back line, consisting of at least two freshmen each game. On the other side of the field, the Knights offense also struggled, not producing chances and finishing.
“Last weekend we created a lot of really good opportunities,” Wiley said. “We really didn’t do that this weekend and took a step backwards in that respect.” The Knights have a short week before they return to action. “We’ll see how they respond,” Wiley said. “After our first week we had a full week to work on things, and unfortunately we didn’t get as much out of that week as we thought we did. We have less days to work on things and more things to work on.” “The personality of our team is good right now. I think after a few tough losses, in games that we felt were winnable, we have managed to not get down on ourselves,” Wiley said. “We are early enough in the season where we can still work on things, but we have to really get to work and start executing.” The Knights return to Geneseo for their home opener to take on Lycoming College at noon Saturday Sept. 14.
Editor's note: The Game that was set for Wednesday Sept. 11 was canceled due to stormy weather. A rematch date has not been scheduled.