Full SUNYAC Women's Soccer Championship Bracket
The top two-seeded women's soccer teams, No. 1 Geneseo (15-2-1) and No. 2 Cortland (11-5-2) will play for the 2019 State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) title, Saturday in Geneseo. The Knights look to win their third-straight and ninth overall title while the Red Dragons will fight for their ninth overall title and first since 2012.
The Cortland Red Dragons topped No. 3 Brockport, 5-1, while Geneseo outlasted No. 4 Plattsburgh, 3-2, Tuesday in the SUNYAC semifinals on campus. Brockport ends its season 12-7-1 overall and Plattsburgh finishes the 2019 season 10-8-1.
More Details - Brockport at Cortland
Junior Janessa Factor (Selden/Sachem East) led Cortland with two goals and one assist. Sophomore Jaden Galluzzo (Commack) tallied one goal and one assist, and junior Alannah O'Shea (New Hyde Park/Herricks) and freshman Sabrina Rodrigues (West Hempstead) each netted a goal. Junior Nina DiNardo (Dix Hills/Half Hollow Hills East) and freshmen Emily Hinck (Farmingdale) and Gabrielle Savage (Port Jefferson Station/Comsewogue) recorded one assist apiece.
Junior Danika Svendsen (Stillwater) started in goal for the Red Dragons, making two saves in 70:37 before giving way to freshman Lindsey Jolly (Massapequa), who stopped two shots over the final 19:23 in her first collegiate action.
Senior Molly Zientek (Holland) scored the goal for Brockport (12-7-1). Freshman Brylie Hapeman (Albion/Charles D'Amico) assisted on the goal. Freshman Kayla Usborne (Madison) started in the net for the Golden Eagles, stopping four shots in 66:00. Senior Kimberly Lubanski (Leicester/York) played the final 24 minutes, registering two saves.
Factor netted her first goal in the 14th minute to open the scoring, taking a through ball from Hinck in the middle of the box and beating Usborne with a low shot. Rodrigues made it 2-0 in the 16th minute. DiNardo served a long pass into the box that Rodrigues ran onto and knocked a shot off Usborne's hand and inside the left post. Factor's second goal 4:38 before the half gave Cortland a 3-0 lead as she one-timed a cross from Galluzzo from the middle of the box inside the left post.
The Red Dragons pushed their advantage to 5-0 in the second half with goals just 35 seconds apart. O'Shea blasted a 40-yard shot into the upper left corner at 62:14, and Galluzzo finished off a breakaway at 62:49 for her team-high ninth goal of the season. Brockport created two chances that Jolly denied with a save at the left post in the 73rd minute and with a diving stop at the same post in the 77th minute. The Golden Eagles eventually broke through in the 83rd minute when Zientek deposited a 15-yard shot inside the far post.
More Details - Plattsburgh at Geneseo
Geneseo got on the board in the 16th minute of action. Senior midfielder Sarah Loprieno sprung Piccoli with a pass down Plattsburgh's right flank before Piccoli finished a 15-yard run with a short chip in front of the right post.
The Knights took a 2-0 lead three minutes later after junior forward Ellie Gregory took a cross from sophomore forward Hannah Sullivan on the right wing and finished a 10-yard volley in the left half of the Cardinal goal.
Plattsburgh evened the score on a pair of tallies by sophomore forward Kirsten Villemarie in the first 22 minutes of the second half. She scored on a long looping shot from the right wing in the 48th minute before beating a Geneseo back on a 20-yard run on goal for a 10-yard finish inside the right post in the 68th minute.
Geneseo found the go-ahead goal on a corner kick in the 70th minute. Piccoli finished off a large scrum from inside the six-yard line, toe-poking the ball past the keeper for the eventual game-winner.
Visit sunyacstore.com for all SUNYAC championship apparel.