SCHENECTADY, NY – Junior midfielder
Caitlin Cuozzo (Norfolk, MA/King Phillip Regional) broke a scoreless tie midway through the second half to lift the Dutchwomen to 1-0 victory over Hamilton in the Liberty League semifnal game at College Park Field Friday afternoon. With the win, the Dutchwomen improve to 13-2-3, extending their unbeaten streak to 14 games. Hamilton concludes the season with a record of 9-4-2.
Sophomore
Chelsea Hargis (East Lyme, CT/ East Lyme) sent in a corner kick which found sophomore midfielder
Sara Wilson (Wilbraham, MA/ Minnechaug Regional) in front of the net. Wilson headed the ball directly into Hamilton goalkeeper
Caitlin McGilley (Northfield, NJ/ Lawrenceville School), but McGilley lost her grasp of the ball. As it fell to the ground amidst a crowd of players, Cuozzo flipped the loose ball up over McGilley's head for her fifth game-winner of the year at 71:01.
The two teams played a closely-fought first half, with Union holding a slim shot advantage of 8-5. Senior Eileen Fisher (Skaneateles, NY /Skaneateles Central School) and senior Sarah Felder (Keene, NH/ Keene) led Hamilton with a shot on goal each. Leading scorer Erica Dressler (Unionville, CT/ Miss Porters School) had three shots in the game.
McGilley made one save in the first half, and followed with four in the second before being replaced by
Kate Fowler (Branford, CT/ Wilton). Union freshman goalkeeper
Mia Simone (Rexford, NY/ Academy of the Holy Names) made two saves in her eighth shutout of the season.
Saturday's Liberty League Championship Game will be broadcast LIVE on WRUC-FM 89.7 and on the web at: www.teamline.cc.
William Smith defeats Skidmore in Liberty League Women's Soccer semifinals on penalty kicks
SCHENECTADY, NY – Sophomore midfielder Julia Bernay (Newport Beach, CA/Newport Harbor) scored on William Smith's seventh penalty kick to lead the Herons into the Liberty League Women's Soccer Championship Game. Bernay gave the Herons a 6-5 penalty kick victory after the teams battled to a 0-0 tie after two overtimes at Union's College Park Field.
William Smith is now 10-5-2 overall and takes on Union (13-2-3) Saturday at 12 p.m. The Thoroughbreds are now 12-3-4. Union defeated Hamilton, 1-0 in the earlier semifinal game.
After Skidmore's Rachel Sushner (Potomoc, MD/Winston Churchill) scored the first goal of the penalty kick session, William Smith's Laura Burnett-Kurie (Durham, NH/Oyster River) tied it. But on the next session, Amanda Roth (Ridgewood, NJ/Ridgewood) was stopped by William Smith goalkeeper Nikki Dudley (Chittenango, NY/Chittenango). Katie Compton (West Hartford, CT/Loomis Chaffee) then gave the Herons the 2-1 lead with a goal. The teams traded goals in the third session, with Skidmore's Allegra Robinson (Milford, NH/Milford) and William Smith's Rayza Santiago (Webster, NY/Webster-Schroeder) each scoring. In the fourth session, after Jessica Morten (Fairfield, CT/Choate Rosemary Hall) scored for Skidmore, Victoria Forman (Norwell, MA/Tabor Academy) missed for William Smith, and it was tied at 3-3. It remained tied after the fifth round, with Shauna Covell (Skaneateles, NY/Skaneateles) scoring for Skidmore and Kem Price (Silver Spring, MD/Our Lady of Good Counsel) tallying for the Herons, making it 4-4 after five rounds.
A sixth round opened with a goal by Skidmore's Marianna Grigorov (Ithaca, NY/Loomis Chaffee), and the Herons tied it at 5-5 on a score by Jillian Harris (Lewis Center, OH/Olentangy). But in the top of the seventh round, Skidmore's Emily Quirk (Maplewood, NJ/Columbia) hit the right post, and Bernay then won it for the Herons on the next kick.
Earlier this season, William Smith had posted a 1-0 win at Skidmore. Liza Mills (Setauket, NY/Ward Melville) made three saves for the Thoroughbreds while Dudley stopped four for William Smith. Skidmore had a 9-7 shot advantage for the game and had 16 fouls to the Herons' 11. William Smith had the advantage in corners, 3-2.
In the previous meeting between Union and William Smith, the Dutchwomen won 1-0 on October 21.
