Rochester, N.Y. – The Mount Saint Mary College Women's Soccer team opened the 2016 season on Friday evening with a tight 1-0 loss at RIT to open the Rachel Miller Tournament. Junior Mary Riley (Newburgh, N.Y.) finished the tilt with five saves for the Mount.
 
The two teams played the opening 45 minutes without a goal, but the home standing Tigers held a commanding 14-2 advantage in shots prior to halftime. The Knights did not get an attempt at the RIT goal until the 17^th minute, with both attempts of the half coming within a minute of each other.
 
RIT goalkeeper, Kelly Rogers, stopped both Mount Saint Mary shots, while Riley kept the Tigers off the board with three first half saves. RIT took all four corner kicks of the opening period and was called for one offside infraction.
 
The game remained scoreless into the second half, until Anka Parzych cashed in the eventual game winner in the 59^th minute of action. Parzych, who scored six goals in 2015, finished off a service from Jenna Valleriano to the far corner of the goal at the 58:11 mark of the match.
 
Mount Saint Mary forced Rogers to make four saves in the final 20 minutes, including a stop off a shot from Nicole Cavallo (Hopewell Junction, N.Y.) with 1:40 left in regulation time. The Knights finished the second half with 10 shots, but could not find the back of the net.
 
Maeve O'Sullivan (Garden City Park, N.Y.) and Destiny Ribadeneyra (Maybrook, N.Y.) led the Mount with three shots each, with Jackie Davis (Islip Terrace, N.Y.) adding a pair of attempts for the Knights.
 
Riley finished off the game with five saves for the Knights, while Rogers was forced to make nine stops in goal for the Tigers. Rogers stopped seven shots in the second half to preserve the shutout.
 
For the game, RIT outshot Mount Saint Mary 21-12, but the Knights held a 9-6 advantage in shots on goal. The Mount took just one of the seven corner kicks in the game, while fouls were whistled 9-8 against the Knights in the contest.
 
At 0-1 overall on the season, Mount Saint Mary will conclude play in the Rachel Miller Tournament on Saturday against Nazareth. Kick-off with the Golden Flyers is scheduled for 4:00 p.m.