Springfield, Mass. – The Mount Saint Mary College Women's Soccer team's season came to a close on Saturday afternoon following a 2-0 loss to Wilkes in the First Round of the ECAC Tournament. Sophomore goalkeeper
Cassidy Rykowski (Sloatsburg, N.Y.) made three saves for the Knights in the season finale.
The Colonels struck twice in the first 15 minutes on Saturday for all the scoring they would need in the contest. Karyna Vargas scored the eventual game winning goal in the seventh minute when she finished of the opening goal of the game at 6:53.
Wilkes closed out the scoring in the game just under five minutes later when Jessica Egan converted a penalty kick at 11:19 to give the Colonels an early two goal advantage.
Wilkes finished the first half with an 11-4 advantage in shots, while Mount Saint Mary went into the intermission with a slim 2-1 advantage in corner kicks.
Mount Saint Mary surrendered just one shot in the second frame on Saturday and outshot Wilkes 3-1 in the period, but could not break through. The Knights lone attempt on goal after halftime came off the foot of
Gina Rivera (Washingtonville, N.Y.) in the final 10 minutes of regulation time.
Rykowski made two of her three saves prior to halftime on Saturday and finishes her sophomore season with 45 stops, a .726 save percentage and a 1.05 goals against average. Wilkes keeper, Samantha Cecere, earned the shutout with a trio of stops of her own.
Wilkes finished the game with a 12-7 advantage in overall shots, but just a slim 5-3 edge in shots on goal. Rivera,
Chrissy Cannella (Cornwall, N.Y.) and
Liz Ellsworth (Suffern, N.Y.) led the Mount with a pair of shots each in the game. Corner kicks in the tilt were even at 2-2.
Saturday's loss closes the Mount's season at 13-6-2.
