Senior back Sarah LeFrois dribbles the ball toward Farmingdale defenders during their game on Saturday Sept. 21. The Knights handily won 5-0 (Xavier Delcid/photo editor).
With such a strong start to the season, Geneseo women’s soccer is ranked 17th by the United Soccer Coaches in NCAA Division III. The Knights are now 6-2, and still looking forward to improving this season.
On Sept. 18, the Knights had a 2-1 victory over Nazareth College, with a goal in the 87th minute by senior forward Domenica Piccoli to secure the win. The first goal came from a penalty shot by senior back Taylor Clar, resulting in her second goal of the season.
The Knights drove home their ability to be a conference winning team with a 5-0 win over the Farmingdale State Rams on Saturday Sept. 21. Goals were scored by Piccoli and senior midfielder Grace Dunnigan who had her first goal of the season.
Sophomore forward Hannah Sullivan scored two goals and tallied two assists in the game, while senior midfielder Sara Loprieno headed in a goal of her own, making the score 4-0 in the first half. Sullivan then scored again in the second half to clinch the 5-0 victory.
A strong defense resulted in the shutout with junior goalkeeper Julia McDonald contributing four saves.
Coach Nathan Wiley is happy for their difficult nonconference schedule, especially with them performing so well against the Rams. It allowed the team to prepare and show they can play at a high level. He explained that a good performance with a difficult schedule can help the team secure an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament if need be.
Wiley also explained that games like these are beneficial for players who don’t see the field as much as others. “One of the tough things with our schedule is that we haven't had as many opportunities to get players into games. That's an important part of the process, and this last weekend was a good opportunity to get some players some more minutes as we go into conference play and get them that experience on the field.”
Wiley believes the team’s greatest strength is their attention to detail, which ultimately allows them to be prepared for whatever a team can throw at them.
The team’s goal is to win games, win the conference and go to the NCAA tournament, according to Wiley and he emphasized that going forward, he just wants the team to “continue to do what we've been doing. [We’ve] been successful against some really good teams [and] we've been successful in the conference the last few years, so we need to make sure that we're switched on for every game because being the defending champs, everybody's gunning for us.”
Clar and junior midfielder Ellie Gregory spoke about how the connection and dynamic the team has is among their strengths.
“We always hold each other accountable for things. I think the reason we do so is because we have such a high level of respect among each other that we're not afraid to call each other out on things that we can correct each other on.” Gregory said.
Clar explained that “our strength is probably just our connection, all 20 of us. We get so close so fast, especially our starting 11 who were all here last year, we’re really close.”
The players also discussed some challenges the team has had this season, one being that they lost a large portion of their team with seniors graduating last year, and another being the constant work the players must put in. “We lost a lot of girls last year, so … me and the other five seniors are trying to step up and just be the leaders that they were last year and try to help out the freshmen this year,” Clar said.
Following their successful past two games, Geneseo plays host to two conference opponents this weekend. SUNY Oswego will face the Knights on Friday Sept. 27 at 4 p.m. while SUNY Cortland comes to town on Saturday Sept. 28 at 1 p.m.