C.W. Post 5 Molloy 1

Brookville, N.Y.  – The 15th-ranked C.W. Post women’s soccer team got a balanced scoring effort and excellent defensive play as the Pioneers advanced past Molloy College, 5-1, in a semifinal matchup of the East Coast Conference women’s soccer championships on a rainy Friday afternoon.

The Pioneers improve to 12-1-4 overall while Molloy ends its season at 6-10-1.

C.W. Post, the top seed in the tournament, struck first in the 12th minute as C.W. Post goalkeeper Allie Weiser (Grand Island, N.Y.) took a goal kick that traveled to midfield, finding the feet of Tove Eriksson (Helsingborg, Sweden). Eriksson took two touches and sent a through pass upfield to Alexa Niciforo (East Islip, N.Y.). Molloy keeper Tricia Zarro came way out to defend the ball, but
Niciforo beat her to it and sent a long shot past Zarro into the empty net for a 1-0 advantage.

The Pioneers continued to apply offensive pressure, and it paid off in the 35th minute as sophomore midfielder Prudence Rydstrom (Islip, N.Y.) took a free kick from about 25 yards out. The ball hit the crossbar, but rebounded to the right side where Anna Svensson (Stockholm, Sweden) gained control and slid a pass to senior Qaroline Nahl (Kumla, Sweden), whose sliding shot connected into the upper right corner for a 2-0 lead.

Coming out of halftime with a 2-0 lead, the Pioneers wasted little time in scoring again as Niciforo struck again just five minutes in to the second half a she took a ball tipped high by freshman Jeanine Ambrogi (Greenlawn, N.Y.) and headed it past Zarro into the upper left corner for a 3-0 lead.

Molloy attempted to regain some momentum with a perfectly executed corner, where Kylie Barbosa took the corner from the left side and sent a cross right to Nicole Valentine, who headed the ball untouched into the top right corner, cutting the C.W. Post lead to 3-1.

However, it took the Pioneers less than eight minutes to respond as senior forward Ivana Babic (Haninge, Sweden) made a long run up the right side and took a shot that rebounded off of Zarro, but quickly shot the rebound into the empty net for a 4-1 lead.

Senior midfielder Danielle DeLuca (East Islip, N.Y.) rounded out the Pioneer scoring in the 73rd minute as she made a run towards the end line and received a through ball from Babic. DeLuca drilled a shot from a tough angle on the right side, and placed it perfectly as the ball deflected off the bottom of the crossbar into the lower left corner of the goal to give C.W. Post an insurmountable 5-1 advantage.

Weiser was excellent in goal, making six saves as she punched away several high shots on the day. Zarro made seven stops in goal for Molloy, as the Pioneers outshot the Lions by a 21-12 count and took seven corners to Molloy’s four.

Queens 0 Bridgeport 0 - Queens advances on penalty kicks 5-3

The Queens College Women's Soccer Team defeated the Bridgeport Purple Knights in a game that came down to a penalty kick shootout to advance to the ECC Championship Game. With the win, the Knights improve to 12-6-1 overall (5-1-1 ECC) while the Purple Knights fell to 13-4-1 (5-1-1 ECC) and are eliminated from post season play.

In a game that featured multiple missed opportunities by both teams, the Knights prevailed in a thrilling shootout victory. Both teams were pretty evenly matched in shot attempts with the total 16-13 in favor of Bridgeport. Brittany Silipo recorded three out of four shots on goal registered by Queens. The Knights' best chance in regulation came on a missed attempt by Silipo in the 82nd minute when she missed just left of the goal.

 The story of the game for the Knights was sophomore Goalkeeper, Allison Breakey who stopped 10 out of 16 shots taken by the Purple Knights. Breakey kept her team in the game making key stops in each period. However, none more crucial and heart pounding than the two she made back to back in the second overtime. In the 108th minute Bridgeport's Linda Velaj's shot was saved by Allison Breakey with the rebound finding the foot of Elin Svavarsdottir. Her shot was also saved by a diving Breakey to keep the score knotted at 0-0. Those two shots would be the last as the game would then go to a PK shootout.
 
Queens opened up the shootout sending senior Kirri Bolton to take the first PK. She connected on a shot by finding the upper right hand corner of the goal. Bridgeport's Katie Stanley would match Bolton by knotting the PK's at one all. Caitlin Gracia kept the ball rolling by finding the back of the net on her PK when it went off the cross bar and in to give QC the advantage. Allison Breakey would then come up big for the Knights snuffing Bridgeport's Berglind Bjarnadottir's shot giving QC the advantage 2-1. Senior captain Laura D'Amore then proceeded to connect on her PK, but was matched by UB's Elin Svavarsdottir to make it 3-2 still in favor of the Knights. Katherine Colon's PK was matched by Ceri Harris to make the score 4-3 for the Knights. With the Knight's championship hopes coming down to one more PK, the Knights sent senior defender Chenelle Geoffroy to the circle. Geoffroy sealed the deal with a bullet to the back of the net and sent the worthy opponent, Bridgeport, home.
 
Queens will take on C.W Post Sunday November 7th at Bridgeport for a chance to claim the ECC Title and a trip to NCAA Regional's.

Provided by the C.W. Post and Queens Sports Information Departments