Box Score
ALBANY – The College of Saint Rose struck with four first half goals en route to a 5-1 victory against Southern Connecticut State in a
Northeast-10 Conference Championship quarterfinal match today at
Sullivan Field at the Plumeri Sports Complex. The Golden Knights (16-1-2) extended their win streak to eight games by outshooting the Owls (9-6-3) 12-6 and by engineering six corner kicks with allowing any.
Five different student-athletes accounted for the five goals and a sixth added an assist to spearhead a balanced attack for 17th ranked Saint Rose. Junior midfielder
Laura Taylor and junior forward
Carmelina Puopolo both had a goal and an assist to lead the way.
Puopolo furthermore continued to embed her name in Saint Rose annals by setting a school record with her 38th career assist and by tying the school goal scoring standard with her 46th career marker. She surpassed former teammate
Christina Cuffari (2008-11) in the former category and tied
Hall of Famer Eliza Whipple (2000-03) in the latter.
Freshman midfielder
Amanda Vasquez, sophomore forward
Meeghan Arno and freshman midfielder
Jennifer Busk accounted for the other three goals, while freshman midfielder
Kelly Johnson set up Arno.
Saint Rose junior keeper
Jessica Gerski was called upon to make just one save throughout the opening 76 minutes, before giving way to freshman
Kallina Haase. At the other end, sophomore keeper Katelyn Fortier turned aside three shots-on-target for Southern Connecticut State.
The Owls had perhaps their best chance with only 9:03 elapsed when senior back Brooke Madura drove a shot that forced Gerski to make what proved to be her lone save.
Meanwhile, the Golden Knights began to manufacture space in the offensive zone and pretty much dictated the pace from that point forward despite a concerted Owls push at the outset of the second half.
Vasquez put Saint Rose on the board when she nimbly one-touched home a cross from Puopolo with 10:59 gone by. Less than seven minutes later, Taylor let go a shot from the top of the area that sailed into the upper left corner. Puopolo then made it 3-0 by running onto a Taylor through ball and finishing inside the left post with 24:30 elapsed. Arno pretty much removed all doubt about the final outcome by touching home a through ball from Johnson at the 40:46 point of the game.
Thirteen minutes into the second period, Madura spoiled the shutout by creating space with a pair of nifty on-ball maneuvers before beating a diving Gerski with a perfectly placed strike from 15-yards out. Busk then collected her first collegiate goal off a corner midway through the period to wrap up the scoring.
Looking ahead, Saint Rose will now host third-seed Southern New Hampshire in a semifinal match this Friday, November 2 after the Penmen advanced with a 2-0 victory against sixth-seed New Haven today in Manchester. Friday's kickoff is scheduled for 4:00 pm between two squads that played to a 1-1 draw back on September 15 in Albany.
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