UAlbany Women's Soccer Ends Homestand with 2-0 Defeat to Dartmouth
Box Score | Box Score (PDF)
Postgame Interview - Nick Bochette
ALBANY, N.Y. – The UAlbany women's soccer team fell victim to a strong Dartmouth second half to fall 2-0 on a rainy Thursday night at Bob Ford Field.
UAlbany (3-4-0) held off Dartmouth (2-1-1) in the first half but fell after two Lucielle Kozlov goals in the second period.
“We were disappointed to not be closer than we were, it was one of those games that we had really good spells and some not good spells, and if you don't put together a 90-minute game against a good team like Dartmouth, they are going to punish you for it,” said UAlbany acting head coach Nick Bochette.
Mariah Williams had four shots off the bench for UAlbany, putting two on goal, while Alexa Schneider had two shots on goal. Alana Brennan got the loss despite saving five shots.
Kozlov was assisted by Melanie Vangel for the first goal and Lindsay Knutson on the second. The win went to Casey Cousineau, who finished with six saves.
The opening minutes saw UAlbany try to set up its position on the offensive third. Neither side took a shot in the opening six minutes. Dartmouth attacked in the next minute as Jessica Vangel raced past the line after a deflected pass, shooting a ground ball which was saved by a diving Brennan. Vangel got another chance after the goal kick, with her shot being blocked away.
UAlbany's first opportunity came in the 20th minute came as the UAlbany forward group tried the push near the goal box. The ball came out to Schneider, who dribbled around a defender and shot from 19 yards away, being denied by a jumping Cousineau.
In the 24th minute, a long range shot from Meredith Gurnee got past Brennan, with a defender knocking away the ball. On the second chance, Knutson was fed a cross in the center of the box for a header, being saved by Brennan.
With much of the action in the midfield keeping the number of shots low, UAlbany drew a corner kick in the 41st minute. Krista Fitzpatrick curled a ball towards Williams for the header attempt, which missed wide right. The two sides went into the half tied at zero.
Dartmouth scored eight minutes into the second half. Kozlov and Vangel each ran down the field with the UAlbany back line, passing back and forth. Kozlov got a look at the net, shot from 15 yards out and scored inside the right post to make it 1-0 Dartmouth.
UAlbany looked for a quick response on a counter attack, firing away on the goal in the next minute. Kiana Rugar got a cross shot close range deflected by the keeper into the right post. Caitlyn Paltsios tried on the rebound shot, kicking a ball hard into a defender. Dartmouth kicked the ball away to end the threat.
In minute 80, UAlbany tried to equalize on a corner kick from Fitzpatrick. Paltsios got a head on the ball, which was stopped by a defender. Two minutes later, Kozlov added her second goal on a long range blast inside the right post to make it 2-0 Dartmouth.
The Great Danes had two more shots on goal from Williams and Kelly Kempf, with each being saved by Cousineau. UAlbany could not get on the board and fell to the Big Green 2-0.
UAlbany hits the road for its next four games, starting with a contest against Quinnipiac in Connecticut on Tuesday, September 15th at 4 p.m.
