The College of Staten Island women’s soccer team picked up their seventh shutout at home this season, 10th of the year, with a 1-0 win over St. Joseph’s College – Long Island at the CSI Soccer Complex.  The Dolphins improved to 8-3-2 overall while the Golden Eagles fell to 4-9-1.
 
Staten Island came out confident and moved the ball with ease in the first half.  The solid ball movement opened up space to allow Natalia Sandor to take a beautiful shot just 10 minutes into the contest that forced Juliana Cintron-Leonardo to make a big save to keep the Dolphins off of the scoreboard. Just five minutes later Krystina Rodriguez rifled a low shot that skipped right in front of Cintron-Leonardo and almost found its way into the back of the net. 
 
CSI continued to keep the pressure on the Golden Eagles.  Keeper Nicole Mignone had an easy first half as the ball stayed on St. Joseph’s side of the field for the entirety of the first half with a few clearances making their way into the Dolphins’ final third. The Dolphins played well, holding a 70-30 edge in possession.  Lauren Smith nearly benefitted from the tremendous edge in possession when she was put through on goal but took a long touch that found its way to the goalie.
 
Chances were limited for the Dolphins for the remainder of the half as the Dolphins attack was constantly squashed by the Golden Eagles’ defense. The Dolphins would not disappear as CSI would come storming back down the field for another attack.
 
At the half the Dolphins lead 6-1 in shots, with five of them forcing Cintron-Leonardo to work.  CSI also held a 1-0 edge in corner kicks with an even 4-4 split in fouls.
 
The second half was more balanced in terms of possession as the Golden Eagles saw more opportunities on the Dolphins’ side of the field.  The deadlock would finally be broken when Rodriguez stole the ball in the middle of the pitch and launched a shot over the keepers head from 25 yards out for an absolute stunner of a goal.  The Dolphins took a 1-0 lead but the Golden Eagles refused to go away. 
 
Just two minutes after the goal the Golden Eagles would come down the field and find an open pocket of space to rifle off a shot.  St. Joseph’s leading goal scorer, Christina Gagliardi laced a shot from 20 yards out which ricocheted off of the crossbar and back into play. CSI’s brick wall of a defense was able to clean up the rebound and get themselves out of danger.
 
CSI would go on to have one more solid chance which was created off of a corner kick by Rodriguez.  Rodriguez placed the corner kick right onto the penalty kick spot in, and although the ball bounced around inside the six yard box for several seconds the Dolphins were unable to get a foot on it.
 
The Dolphins would finish the game with a huge 17-3 edge in shots, while also tallying three corner kicks.  The Golden Eagles were the aggressive side, being called for 11 fouls to just seven on the Dolphins.
 
Staten Island will return to action on Saturday, September 15 where they will travel to Jamaica, NY to take part in the first of a three game CUNYAC stretch against York College at 12:00 pm.