KAYLEY HALICKI
Special to The Leader
Fredonia women’s soccer started off their SUNYAC season at home with a tie against Brockport (6-1-1) that took them into double overtime on Friday, followed by a close game on Saturday resulting in a 1-0 loss against Geneseo (3-4-2).
Both teams remained strong on defense resulting in no goals being scored in the first half. Fredonia’s senior Kristi Putzig had a good scoring opportunity but Brockport’s keeper Laura Thompson deflected the high shot. The Devils outshot the Golden Eagles 4-0.
At the half, the scoreboard read 0-0. Fredonia struck first in the 9th minute of the second half to end the Golden Eagles bid for the shutout. Senior Zanna Barth pushed a long ball to freshman midfielder Kristie Kleine, who just missed a shot from the corner.
Freshman forward Alexis Moreland finished the job by getting the ball off of the far post and placed the ball in the net. The goal was Moreland’s first in her college career.
The Golden Eagles answered Fredonia back in the 76th minute of the game. Katie Gildemeyer got her fourth goal of the season assisted by Courtney Szczesniak to tie the game 1-1.
In the first overtime, Szczesniak gave the best opportunity for Brockport to score but freshman goal keeper Hannah McGlinchey wouldn’t give and continued to have two more saves which lead to the second overtime.
This time the Devils performed but were still unable to make a connection with the net. Moreland gave it her all to dribble the ball into the box and took a shot but was denied. Soon after, Ally Tatro crossed the ball to Kleine who also got a shot out but couldn’t find the opening. This lead to a series of penalty kicks in which Fredonia held an advantage of 2-1.
“We had a slow start because we are all trying to get used to playing with one another but it is coming together,” Moreland said.
On Saturday Fredonia continued SUNYAC play and their homestand by facing the Geneseo Black Knights, suffering a 1-0 shutout loss.
Many Fredonia fans sat in beautiful weather waiting for the Devils to answer back to Erin O’Connor scoring in the 55th minute of the game for Geneseo, but were left disappointed.
“I think today’s game was just really unlucky,” Tatro said. “We had some scoring opportunities that we didn’t finish but our team is finally starting to play well together.”
McGlinchey was required to make a total of seven saves for the Devils but came up short when O’Connor came in unassisted to leave the Devils to trail
behind.
Geneseo outshot the Devils 13-10. They had a strong control of the game in the first half. Fredonia proceeded to put on the pressure in the second half but missed their opportunity.
Moreland stated, “I think we will do very well in conference play and I expect big things in the future for Fredonia State women’s soccer.”