The College of Staten Island women’s soccer team suffered their first loss at home this season against William Paterson University, 1-0. The Dolphins fell to 10-3-1 overall while the Pioneers improved to 4-9-2. The Dolphins had allowed just one goal at home this season prior to this afternoon’s game.
The Pioneers tallied six shots in the first half of todays game while the Dolphins had four. The first half of the game was very defensive as neither team had a quality chance other than Senda Karagozler’s opportunity that she hit high over an open net. Kristy Colangelo kept the Pioneers off the board with four saves to keep the shutout intact.
Lauren Smith showed moments of brilliance in the center of the pitch slotting passes through narrow windows to on-running Dolphins. Stephanie Rivera was a nice compliment to Smith in the midfield as she played more of the defensive powerhouse to help clear the middle.
At the halfway mark of the second half the Dolphins’ offense seemed to shut down as the Pioneers rifled off six more shots while the Dolphins were unable to crack William Paterson’s back line to find an open lane to shoot. With 17:30 left in the game Krysta Percaccio made a huge defensive stop when Amanda Carmichael was streaking towards goal which forced Percaccio to catch up and poke the ball away inside the box all while making sure to not give away a penalty kick.
Samantha Wysokowski made a clutch save after a corner kick found its way into the box and a soft shot was sent towards goal where Wysokowski was perfectly in position to head the ball of the goal line to keep the game 0-0. The header proved to be enough to send the game into overtime, the second time in a three game span.
It took just 61 seconds for the Pioneers to score against the Dolphins in overtime when Colangelo made a save which gave William Paterson a corner kick. Rachel Rivell rose above the crowd of Dolphin defenders and headed one home to end the game.
The Dolphins are back in action on Monday, October 26 where they will travel to Camden, NJ to take on Rutgers-Camden at 7:00 pm.
