UAlbany WSOC Holds Second Place In-Conference with 2-1 Victory over Stony Brook
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ALBANY, N.Y. – Winning on a goal from Levittown-native Alexa Schneider, the UAlbany women's soccer team celebrated Massapequa-native Stephanie Nelle for Senior Day with a 2-1 victory over Stony Brook on Sunday afternoon.
“We stuck to our game plan, and the team showed a ton of energy today,” said UAlbany coach Caitlin Cucchiella. “The commitment to attack in Stony Brook offensive third earned us the win. This is a huge win for us.”
With the victory, UAlbany (6-7-4, 3-1-2 AE), which was picked to finish eighth in the conference preseason poll, has nearly secured a place in the America East Tournament with 11 points. The Great Danes currently are tied for second place with UMBC, UAlbany's next opponent at Bob Ford Field on Thursday, October 23rd at 7 p.m.
“Being in second place heading into a home match vs. UMBC puts us in a great position with two games left to play in the regular season,” said Cucchiella.
Nelle, the lone UAlbany senior this season, was honored with a pregame ceremony for Senior Day. She anchored a UAlbany back line that has helped the Great Danes go unbeaten the past five games.
“I am thrilled, I have been waiting for this game for a long time,” said Nelle. “After last year's defeat, we wanted to redeem ourselves. We knew this was an important game, and we stayed focused.”
UAlbany netted a goal in each half. Leanne Miller scored her fourth goal of the year from Vivian Vega with just over two minutes left in the first period, then Kelsey Luke and Vega set up Schneider for the score in the 50th minute.
“We worked on holding the ball and finishing opportunities, plus being in command in the front,” said Schneider. “We knew we had to give 100% for the victory.”
Alana Brennan, picking up the victory with six saves, earned her sixth win of the year. She now has 13 victories, becoming the winningest goalie in UAlbany women's soccer DI history.
For Stony Brook (5-9-1, 2-3-1 AE), Tessa Devereaux netted a second half goal, assisted by Shannon Grogan and Maddie Good. Ashley Castanio got the loss in goal with four saves.
After an early Schneider shot was saved, Stony Brook was the early aggressor, getting off the next seven shots. Brennan saved four of them, including one from close range off a touch from a corner from Danielle Fuller.
In the 26th minute, UAlbany looked to counter after a pair of Stony Brook corner kicks. Vega went for a long range shot, with the keeper making the save. Three minutes later, Bianca Webb got off a shot, with Castanio making another save.
After some play in the midfield, Vega found Miller running down the midfield. Miller, getting around a defender, went for the goal from long range on an arc shot, netting the ball inside the left post for the score. UAlbany went into the locker room up 1-0.
UAlbany flipped the script in the second half and was the early attacker. The play paid off as Luke passed to Vega outside the box near side in the 50th minute. Vega passed the ball to Schneider up top the box in the middle. Schneider kicked hard and scored inside the right post to put the home team up 2-0.
The Great Danes kept attacking, seeing Caitlyn Paltsios and Kelly Kempf send shots wide and high. Stony Brook countered, and in the 58th minute, Devereaux received a deflected pass and fired from 25 yards out to score inside the left post for the goal to make it 2-1 UAlbany.
Each side exchanged play as both sides got off shots, but neither connected on goal for many minutes.
In minute 81, the UAlbany defense had its toughest test of the game. Raven Edwards brought the ball to the box and kicked for the goal, being blocked by a defender. The ball kept rebounding off defenders from shots, with attempts from Devereaux and Regan Bosnyak each seeing shots blocked. Finally, Elise Pratt made a fourth shot in the exchange, missing wide right and ending the threat.
Krista Fitzpatrick nearly added an insurance goal, getting on a breakaway in the 86th minute. On a shot, the keeper dove and punched the ball back to Fitzpatrick. Fitzpatrick tried a second shot, but a defender was in the way to end the attempt.
UAlbany kept Stony Brook without a shot to finish the game to give the 2-1 victory to the Great Danes.
