Senior midfielder Tess Necaise fights for a loose ball against SUNY Brockport on Wednesday Sept. 26. The Knights would win 5-0 (Josie Kwan/assoc. photo editor).
The Geneseo field hockey team played their first conference game against the SUNY Morrisville Mustangs on Saturday Sept. 21. Entering the game, the Knights won all three of their previous matchups against the Mustangs.
The Knights continued their success against Morrisville by routing their opponent 10-0. This decisive win brought the Knights’ overall season record to 4-3 and their SUNYAC record to 1-0.
The Knights scored early and often as senior forward Gabriella Clare netted the first goal just two minutes into the game. Clare scored once more in the first half, along with junior defender Julia Kim and sophomore forward Allie Prescott.
“It was really exciting,” Prescott said about her first college goal of her career. Prescott looks to continue to score over the season—her goal was the fourth and final goal of the first half.
Sophomore midfielder Jordan Penkitis opened the second half with a goal due to an assist from junior forward Elisa Arcara. Senior midfielder Madison Albrecht caught fire midway through the second half, finding the back of the net twice in just over one minute, putting the Knights up 7-0. Albrecht’s two goals tied her with Clare for the most goals in the game. Junior defender Gabrielle Sousa, freshman defender Grace Maley and sophomore forward Hayley Fonfara all scored goals to close out the game and put an emphatic exclamation point on the team’s dominant performance.
The influx of goals was a welcome sight to the team. Clare admitted that scoring was something they have been struggling with. Eight players scored at least one goal on Saturday, an encouraging sign for Clare and the team. She credited the goals to teamwork, the players’ positive attitudes and their intensity straight out of the gate.
Coming into the game, Geneseo had scored 14 goals over six games. Their 10 goals on Saturday almost doubled their season total so far.
Saturday’s offensive display was especially impressive as Geneseo’s 10 goals were their most in a single game since 2005 when the Knights beat Wells College 11-0, according to CollegeHockeyStats.net. Their 43 shots were a season high as well, nearly doubling their previous season high this year of 25 shots.
Defensively, the Knights completely shut down Morrisville’s offense. Saturday’s shutout was the Knights’ first of the season, and the first of freshman goalie Natalie Chojnacki’s college career. Chojnacki feels pressure as a freshman goalie, but appreciates the hard work of the entire defense in front of her.
During practice, Chojnacki says she works very hard to overcome any frustrations and make herself better for the team.
All of her hard work certainly paid off on Saturday, but keeping Morrisville off the scoreboard is nothing new to the Knights. They have now shut out the Mustangs over their past four meetings.
The team has not allowed their recent success to get to their heads, according to junior forward Erin Nolan.
“[We] come out to every game and work hard and work together because every opponent is a good one,” Nolan said.
The Knights continued to fire on all cylinders offensively in a lopsided 5-0 victory over SUNY Brockport on Wednesday Sept. 26. The team’s next game will be Saturday Sept. 29 against SUNY Oswego.