Junior forward Domenica Piccoli (pictured above) fights to win the ball back for the Knights in the midfield. Piccoli leads the team in goals with seven over the season (Josie Kwan/assoc. photo editor).
Although they may have lost their eight-game shutout win streak, the Geneseo women’s soccer team came back strong with two wins to help them remain a strong contender for the SUNYAC title.
With just one loss, the Knights still stand strong at 8-1 in conference play with a 12-3-1 record overall. Until their away game at SUNY Cortland on Thursday Oct. 18, the Knights held opponents scoreless for 758 consecutive minutes since Sept. 12, according to the Geneseo website.
The Knights played away at Cortland on Thursday Oct. 18. The Red Dragons scored first in the third minute on a defensive breakdown. About two minutes later, junior forward Domenica Piccoli received the ball from sophomore forward Miranda Ozimek and scored the Knights’ only goal of the game.
Cortland would score again and the Knights did not come back, losing 2-1 on the afternoon. The win for Cortland marks its first against Geneseo since 2011, according to the Geneseo website.
Even though the loss may have been defeating, the game marked Piccoli’s team-leading sixth goal of the season and Ozimek’s team-best fourth assist.
Senior goalkeeper Emily Janiszewski found the loss inevitable with the team’s hot win streak behind them.
“At the end of the day after the loss, we turned it into a positive thing where we realized that it was nice to get this loss out of the way and it was perfect time to lose a game if we needed to because we already clinched first spot,” Janiszewski said. “So I think it’s nice that we finally got the loss out of the way and it was an awakening moment for our team members.”
The Knight’s did not let their first conference loss of the season hamper their excellent play, coming back strong against SUNY Oswego on Saturday Oct. 20. Piccoli put the Knights in the lead in the 19th minute, tallying her seventh goal of the season, one less than her career-high from last season.
About 10 minutes later, first-year midfielder Hannah Sullivan passed back to Ozimek who extended the lead to 2-0.
Only one minute later, senior midfielder Caitie Cunningham recorded her fourth goal of the season which put the Knights up 3-0. The Knights held the Lakers scoreless for the rest of the game, claiming a much-needed comeback conference victory.
“[The Cortland loss] made the win the following day against Oswego that much sweeter because we hadn’t really had to deal that much with loss in the season,” Cunningham said. “Realizing that we could bounce back and that we had it in us to do well after a bad game was something that we needed to realize about ourselves.”
The game was a bright spot for the Knights who still have only given up one goal to opponents since the beginning of their shutout streak. Additionally, Janiszewski made four saves to claim her 10th shutout of the season which tied the Geneseo program record of 38 shutouts.
“[The record is] a really cool accomplishment for myself and for the defense just because we’ve been playing so well and it honestly brought us closer because we hype each other up in a different way and it’s just nice knowing that all the hard work pays off,” Janiszewski said.
The Knights returned home for their game against non-conference opponent Houghton College on Tuesday Oct. 23 at College Stadium. Sullivan scored from 18 yards out in the first minute of the game to score the only goal of the game for either side. After having possession for the majority of the game, the Knights beat the Highlanders 1-0.
The game against Houghton also marks a new program record for Janiszewski as she recorded her 39th career shutout. It was also her 11th of the season, which is no easy task.
With their hot streak only hindered by one loss, the Knights look to host the winner of the SUNY Oneonta vs. SUNY Plattsburgh game in the SUNYAC semifinals on Wednesday Oct. 31 at 1 p.m. If the Knights emerge victorious from that matchup they will, as the number one seed, host the SUNYAC championship on Nov. 3.
Janiszewski and Cunningham both highlighted the importance of going into the game on Oct. 31 fully focused and prepared.
“These teams are very good, they’re very talented, it only takes one goal or one mistake to mess it up, so I think we just need to have a clear mind on what our goal is and what we want to do,” Janiszewski said. “We just have to really come out with high energy all week throughout practice. With that will come a reward of scoring goals and hopefully get a good win for semifinals.”