Box Score
COBLESKILL, NY - Sometimes in the game of soccer, it comes down to who can make the least amount of mistakes. For the Crimson Eagles on Saturday, a single slip-up turned out to be the deciding factor.
The soccer squad found themselves in the middle of a grind-it-out battle during an overcast afternoon in New York on Saturday, as neither PBU nor SUNY Cobleskill was able to finish on the offensive end despite several golden chances.
That is, until the 63rd minute rolled around.
After nearly a period and a half of scoreless action, the Fighting Tigers finally cracked the Crimson Eagles' back line and senior keeper Kristen Lyszczasz, as senior forward Kristen Raina nailed a point blank goal off a well-timed feed from rookie teammate Sherilyn Thomas to put the host group up 1-0.
"The defense, led by Lisa D'Alessandro at sweeper, had a great day, limiting Cobleskill to just two or three real chances," said first year head coach Dewey Landon. "Unfortunately, they put in one of their chances.
With a single goal margin deficit looming down the stretch, PBU's front line continued to put pressure on Cobleskill, rocketing six shots on target during the back end of play.
But despite several marquee chances, the clock expired before the Crimson Eagles were able to even things up, sending the visitors to their second straight shutout loss to open the season.
"We had two great looks at goal early in the second half," Dewey continued. "Katherine Zell narrowly missed high before setting up Chelsea Troyer, whose effort slid past the wrong side of the post. In the last minute, Mary Holtzer drilled a shot off the crossbar. The ball just would not cooperate and go in for us."
The 90-minute affair ended up with Cobleskill enjoying a slight edge in total shots for the game (14 to 10) while corner kicks were dead even at three apiece.
Lyszczasz proved to be a formidable deterrent once again in the net, recording double-digit saves for the second straight game. PBU drops to 0-2 with the loss while SUNY Cobleskill moves to 1-0.
Despite coming up on the short end of the stick, Dewey remained optimistic about his team's progress, saying, "I am very happy with the team's play today, we showed some good things."
The soccer team will get back to work on Wednesday, taking on Valley Forge Christian College at 4:00 pm. The Crimson Eagles overran the Patriots 2-0 a year ago and will try to match last season's success, this time in Phoenixville.
