The Geneseo women’s soccer team continues to keep up their torrid pace, extending their win streak to five games.
Their streak kicked off with a win against Farmingdale State on Sept. 15. That momentum carried the team into the next weekend, starting Sept. 21, against SUNY Potsdam and SUNY Plattsburgh. The Knights took their first two conference wins that weekend and took first place in the SUNYAC conference standings.
This past weekend, the team stayed hot as they beat both Buffalo State and SUNY Fredonia in the College Stadium at home by a combined score of 7-0.
The Knights flew by Buffalo State at home on Friday Sept. 28 by a decisive score of 3-0. Senior midfielder Caitie Cunningham opened up the scoring for the Knights just two minutes into the second half. About 14 minutes later, junior back Taylor Clar put the Knights up by two. Finally, at the 79-minute mark, sophomore forward Miranda Ozimek iced the game, securing the Knights’ 3-0 victory.
Following the win, Ozimek was proud of the team’s play
“We played together, we played disciplined, we played our game,” Ozimek said.
The following day, Saturday Sept. 29, Geneseo continued their streak with a blowout victory against Fredonia by a score of 4-0. Cunningham and Ozimek both netted goals again for the Knights while junior forward Domenica Piccoli and junior back Sarah Loprieno also scored in the win.
“It was purely because of my teammates and working hard,” Ozimek said of the win.
The Knights are now headed into another weekend of tough conference play. They go out on the road to face conference opponents for the first time this season.
The Knights face off against SUNY Oneonta away on Friday Oct. 5 and then travel to SUNY New Paltz on Saturday Oct. 6. While they sit atop the SUNYAC Conference and are on a five-game winning streak, Cunningham shared the importance of staying on top of their opponents.
“We can’t become too comfortable,” Cunningham said. “We have to keep pushing ourselves forward because even though we’ve been doing well, we want to do even better.”
Playing away doesn’t worry the team, according to Ozimek.
“Our energy level needs to be high,” Ozimek said. “We need to play with confidence and support each other and work hard.”
Now that Geneseo has gotten a good sense of their competition, Cunningham has identified their biggest threat to be Oneonta.
“We know that Oneonta has always been a good team, so that will be a really big game coming up,” Cunningham said.
Cunningham also feels that SUNY Cortland and SUNY Oswego are the other major competitors in their division.
Geneseo’s top three scorers, Ozimek, Piccoli and Cunningham all hope to continue to help Geneseo continue their hot streak while traveling on the road. The Knights have the opportunity to pull away in the conference standings with two big wins this weekend and cement themselves as the frontrunner for the SUNYAC title.
The team will look to secure their second straight SUNYAC championship and push farther into the NCAA tournament than they did just one year ago. This is a team with a lot of senior leadership that may just have what it takes to meet or even push past their own expectations.