Geneseo Women's Soccer clinches Empire 8 Championship title
Photo courtesy of Geneseoknights.com
Sophomore goalkeeper Emily McLouth’s performance in this Empire 8 Championship Final brought her to her third shut-out of the season and a .90 goals allowed average.
This past Saturday, Nov. 9, the SUNY Geneseo Women’s Soccer team was named the Empire 8 Conference Champions after a 1-0 win over Nazareth in their inaugural season as part of the conference. After spending 54 years at the State University of New York (SUNYAC) Conference, SUNY Geneseo moved to the more competitive Empire 8 Conference, where Women’s Soccer proved to be a force to be reckoned with.
After a strong start to the game, the Knights were awarded a penalty kick six minutes into the first half. Graduate student forward Juliette Frischmann took the kick, but it hit the crossbar, leaving the game without a score.
In the first half, senior midfielder Lindsey Matthews took two shots on goal, both saved by Nazareth’s goalie, Annika Monfort. Junior forward Abby Dunigan also had two shots on goal, which Monfort saved again. Freshman forward Kirsten Shepherd also contributed one of the five shots on goal in the first half of the game. The Knights outshot the Nazareth Golden Eagles with 11 total shots and six on goal overall.
The start of the second half proved to be in the Knights’ favor. At just five minutes in, Geneseo secured a corner kick. Junior forward Abby Foster took the corner kick and placed it just inside the ten, creating the perfect scoring play opportunity for graduate student Lindsey Clar to play the ball off her head, setting junior midfielder Riley Griffin to score for the Knights. This goal marks Griffin’s third career contribution to a historic win for the Geneseo Knights.
Later in the second half, Frischmann brought the ball up the field on a breakaway and took a shot on the net. The ball went just wide of the left of the post, keeping the score at 1-0. The Knights' defense remained steadfast throughout the rest of the second half, keeping the Nazareth Golden Eagles at bay.
This Empire 8 Conference Final tallied sophomore goalkeeper Emily McLouth’s third shutout of the season, with four total saves. McLouth’s goals allowed average for the game sat at an impressive .90, proving to be a great goalkeeper in high-pressure situations.
Frischmann was named the Empire 8 Tournament Most Valuable Player (MVP), senior goalkeeper Mollie Collins was named Goalkeeper of the Year for the Empire 8 Conference, and freshman forward Casey Holstein was named Rookie of the Year after his first season as a Knight. Holstein has four goals and five assists this season, acting as a promising start to a hopeful career. Another win for the Geneseo Women’s Soccer roster was Riley Griffin being named Geneseo’s Sportswoman of the Year.
The Knights had four players named to the Empire 8 first team, including Frischmann, Matthews, Foster, and Collins. Two players were named to the second team, Holstein and sophomore Isabella Lavrynenko. Lastly, Lindsey Clar was named to the Empire 8 third team.
The Knights will advance to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III first-round match against the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) on Saturday, Nov. 16. Geneseo has yet to face the team, so this match-up will be something you won’t want to miss.