The College of Staten Island women’s soccer team went in with high hopes, but came out on the losing end of a lop-sided, 6-0, final at the hands of No. 4 New Jersey City University as part of the ECAC Metro NY/NJ Postseason Championship Quarterfinals. The loss finalized the Dolphins season four days after winning the CUNYAC Championship with a record of 13-5-1. The Gothic Knights extended to a program-best 14-7, and will face top-seeded New York University on Saturday in Semifinal play.
The Knights went up early and never looked back, scoring first just 3:16 into the contest when leading scorer Jennifer Albuja notched her 22nd of the season on a Amanda Spethman throw-in that the senior laced with a header into the inside left of the post past CSI keeper Samantha Wysokowski. The Dolphins tried a few spirited runs up the pitch from there, but 13:33 later, Albuja struck again, this time burying a Devon Williams’ feed from the left of the box, to help her team go up, 2-0. Albuja completed the natural hat trick at 24:37, chipping a shot over Wysokowski off of a Karla Reyes-Abril pass. A little less than two minutes later, Julia Caseres took a Margie Alfano pass, put a move on Wysokowski and bounced another in to lead NJCU to a commanding, 4-0 lead by intermission.
From there, suffocating defense by the Knights told the story, as the home side allowed just three CSI shots in the second stanza (only one on goal). Meanwhile Caseres added another tally at 79:06 in the second half, and 16 seconds later, NJCU’s Erica Buonacquista made it a laugher, launching a long range shot from the right to make it 6-0.
NJCU led the final shot tally, 32-10 (13-4 on goal), and held an 11-1 edge in corner kicks. There were no bookings in the game.
For CSI, this marked their second trip all-time in ECAC play. The Dolphins finalize their season with their highest win total ever, at 13-5-1, on the heels of their sixth CUNYAC title in eight seasons.
