PURCHASE, N.Y. – For the eighth year in a row, No. 1 Farmingdale State College (14-5-3) won the Skyline Conference Women's Soccer Championship, as the top-seeded Rams bested the No. 2 Mount Saint Mary College women's soccer team (14-5-1), 2-1, on Saturday at Purchase College. This marks the fifth straight year that the Rams have defeated the Knights in the finals.
Farmingdale State's Ashlee Thompson was named the Skyline Conference Championship's Most Outstanding Player for her excellent play throughout the Skyline Tournament. She scored the game-winner for the Rams in the 16th minute after heading in a perfect cross at point blank.
Alena Gannon gave the Rams the lead in the second minute of the game after a feed from Shannon Murphy sparked a breakaway that put her one-on-one with the keeper. She found the lower right corner of the net to put the top seed up, 1-0.
Freshman defender
Destiny Ribadeneyra (Maybrook, N.Y.) fired off one of her most impressive shots of the season—a 45-yard blast from the far left wing—and somehow found the top-right corner of the net to tie the game at 1-1 at the 12:14 mark. Thompson took the lead right back for the Rams just three minutes later.
The Knights had two strong chances to tie the game in the second half. In the 55th minute, junior midfielder
Melissa Guillemette (Branford, Conn.) sent a corner kick into the middle of the box, where it bounced between attackers and defenders before squeaking out to the 18-yard line. Senior defender
Jordyn Catapano (Hopewell Junction, N.Y.) fired from the top of the box, but Rams' keeper Breanna Blair made a jumping save in the left corner to hold the lead.
Guillemette had an opportunity to tie in the 78th minute after beating a group of defenders into the box. She had one defender left on her tail, who caused Guillemette's shot to narrowly go wide left.
Blair improved to 14-5-3 on the season after making two saves to pick up the victory. Freshman goalkeeper
Mary Riley (Newburgh, N.Y.) suffered just her fifth loss of the season and stopped three shots in the game.
Both teams were even on the attack in Saturday's championship game, totaling nine shots apiece. The Knights had a 4-1 edge in corner kicks.
Farmingdale State earns the Skyline Conference's automatic qualifier into the NCAA Division III Women's Soccer Championship Tournament for the eighth year in a row. The Knights finish their season having earned six spots on the Skyline All-Conference Teams, including four freshmen. The Knights finish with double-digit wins for the fifth straight season, and have not lost a Skyline regular-season contest since 2010.
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