Newburgh, N.Y. – Freshman goalkeeper Megan Cotta (Point Pleasant, N.J.) made ten saves, including a first half penalty kick stop, but it wasn't enough as the Mount Saint Mary College women's soccer team lost to Farmingdale State College, 2-0. The Blue Knights dropped to 8-3-1 overall and 1-2 inside of the Skyline Conference, while Farmingdale jumped up to 7-5 overall and 3-0 in the conference. The Rams were the pre-season favorite to win the conference title in a coaches' poll.
Farmingdale came out of the gates quickly, firing five shots in the opening ten minutes. In the eleventh minute, the Rams were able to tally their first goal of the afternoon, capping off a strange sequence of play. Following two passes into the box, and two clears by the MSMC defenders, the third pass into the box finally led to a goal. Sophomore Tricia Pickford (Massapequa Park, N.Y.) played a ball to the middle of the box where it found a trio of Farmingdale players. Sophomore Kristine Ostrem (West Islip, N.Y.) collected the pass and fired it past Cotta for a 1-0 Rams lead.
Cotta's penalty kick save came in the 41st minute as she dove to her right to stone sophomore Julia Benitez (West Hempstead, N.Y.). The stop gave the Blue Knights a huge boost of momentum that they carried through the rest of the half andinto the opening minutes of the second half.
The Blue Knights had a golden opportunity to tie the game on a free kick in the 52nd minute. Junior Kristen Piatkowski (Madison, N.J.) struck the kick well and it looked like it was labeled for just under the crossbar. Farmingdale goalkeeper Kimberly Sontag (Lynbrook, N.Y.) made an excellent save to tip the ball over the crossbar, preserving the 1-0 lead.
The Rams got their insurance goal in the 66th minute as Ostrem tallied her second goal of the afternoon. Sophomore Christina Cascio (Kings Park, N.Y.) slid a pass across the top of the box to Ostrem who drilled it from just inside the eighteen yard line. The ball nicked the crossbar and bounced down into the area behind the goal line to give Farmingdale a 2-0 lead.
A very physical contest from the start, the game finished with 27 fouls, 20 of them on the Rams. Both teams received one yellow card.
Up next for the Mount is a trip to the College of Staten Island on Monday. The game is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. in Staten Island.
