In their penultimate home game of the regular season, the Knights maintained their successful pattern with a 13-11 win against SUNY Oswego on April 10.
Geneseo was first on the board with six unanswered goals, including two by sophomore attacker Hannah Marafioti. Oswego did not record a goal until back-to-back scores with three minutes remaining in the first half. This pair of goals made the game 6-2 heading into halftime.
Oswego went on an impressive 6-2 run during the first 13 minutes of the second half to tie the game, 8-8. With less than five minutes remaining in the game, junior midfielder Tessa Doody scored her second goal of the game to put the Knights ahead by one. Marafioti followed with the last two of her five total scores.
Head coach Carly Ritchlin was proud of how well the team performed across the board.
“We have several players with points, and a defense that is hard to get through,” Ritchlin said. “I feel we are balanced and have all the tools we need to be extremely competitive.”
With the Knights firing on all cylinders, they looked forward to their first away game after three straight wins at home in Geneseo. They traveled to SUNY New Paltz where they faced less of a fight than in their game against Oswego. In their 19-7 win over the New Paltz Hawks, Doody and senior defenseman Mallory Max scored five goals each.
Freshman midfielder Emma Gaenzle and Doody started things off with goals within the game’s first three minutes. The pair scored the last four goals of the first half to make the score 12-3. Even being put to the test with an away game, Max said that the team is always prepared for any playing environment.
“We try to make no difference at all, regardless of the place we are in, we look and prepare the same,” Max said. “Every opponent is just as important as the next.”
The Knights scored slowly but consistently in the second half, notching seven more goals to finish the game while only allowing four scores by New Paltz. Geneseo was able to out-shoot the Hawks by a difference of 37-19, which was a contributing factor in helping the Knights push their win streak to five games.
The Knights have impressed so far in the 2019 season but remaining complacent may lead to a letdown. Coach Ritchlin knows that every team, no matter how well they are playing, has improvements to make.
“Right now, we are focusing on getting better control over our games by controlling the ball and reducing errors on our end,” Ritchlin said.
Max also takes notice of little tweaks and changes that could be implemented to properly adjust to certain in-game situations. Some of the smallest aspects of a team’s play can oftentimes be the deciding factor between a win and a loss.
“An example of [adjusting] is mixing up our draw personnel whether we are winning it or losing it,” Max said.
With only four games of the regular season remaining, the Knights want to ride their wave of momentum and continue their stellar play. Going into their next game, Geneseo traveled to take on conference-leading SUNY Brockport on Wednesday April 17. They won by a score 13-11 to improve to 10-4 on the season.