Newburgh, N.Y. – The Mount Saint Mary College women's soccer team opened up their season with a strong weekend of play at the Eagle Kickoff Tournament in Nashua, New Hampshire. The Blue Knights advanced to the championship round with a 5-0 defeat of host Daniel Webster on Saturday, but lost to Lesley University, 3-0, in the title game on Sunday.
In the championship game, Lesley benefited greatly from a two minute stretch in the first half during which the Lynx scored all three of their goals. Sophomore Jodi Fralick (Woburn, Mass.) opened the scoring with an unassisted goal at the 15:16 mark of the half, and just forty-four seconds later, Frolick converted a penalty kick to put the Lynx up by two. Then, only two seconds shy of the 17 minute mark, junior Kate Stickles (Newtown, Conn.) scored following a corner kick from freshman Alyson Durben (Stowe, Mass.) to give the Lynx a three-goal cushion.
Outside of the two minute stretch, Mount Saint Mary had the better of the play. For the rest of the game, the Mount would outshoot Lesley 7-5 and eventually score a goal in the 87th minute. Freshman Kristen Maggio (Smithtown, N.Y.) tallied her second goal of the tournament when she fired in a shot from the right side at 86:26.
“If not for those two minutes in the first half, we're the tournament champions,” said Mount Saint Mary head coach Frank Martini (Wallkill, N.Y.). “I'm still encouraged by our play and we're going to take a lot of positives out of this weekend.”
In the opening game of the tournament, the Blue Knights cruised to a 5-0 victory over Daniel Webster College. Junior Kristen Piatkowski (Madison, N.J.), later named the Defensive MVP of the tournament, scored the first goal for the Mount with a long free kick. Sophomore Danielle Bucco (Washingtonville, N.Y.) also tallied in the first half with the assist going to sophomore Lauren Dorsa (Massapequa Park, N.Y.).
With a two goal lead headed into the second half, Mount Saint Mary would benefit from a Daniel Webster own goal that put them up 3-0. Maggio and senior Nicole Ryan (Maybrook, N.Y.) had second half goals to push the final margin of victory to five. Freshman Megan Cotta (Point Pleasant, N.J.) and junior Jessica Thibault (Watertown, Conn.) combined to shut out the Eagles as the goalkeepers for the Blue Knights.
Mount Saint Mary is 1-1 overall and receive a week off before their next scheduled contest. The Blue Knights travel to Mitchell College on Saturday, September 8 for their next game.
