By JOSH VESHIA
Staff Writer
The Saint Rose women’s soccer team finished second last week in the Northeast-10 conference championship tournament. The team was seeded second behind the Panthers of Adelphi who would edge out the Golden Knights by one goal in the championship game. In the past nine seasons, it is only the second time Saint Rose has gone home without the title of NE-10 champions.
Being the second ranked team, Saint Rose would have home field advantage for every game except for the championship. The journey started off Tuesday when the Golden Knights hosted New Haven, the seventh ranked team in the tournament.
Before this matchup, the teams met less than a week before in a game Saint Rose completely dominated and left with a 7-0 victory. This strong performance seemed to dictate New Haven’s game plan for their next meeting.
Shortly after the opening whistle, it became clear that the Chargers were looking to fend off Saint Rose chances and focus on defense. The Golden Knights were able to control the ball and hold possession for much of the game but were unable to cash in on opportunities.
“I think that they played very defensively and when we got in around them there wasn’t a lot of opportunity,” said head Coach Laurie Darling Gutheil. “They did a really good job of killing space and not giving us a lot of room to play.”
Saint Rose was able to outshoot New Haven 20-6 including 13 corner kicks but to no avail, leading to overtime.
The game was almost ended in favor of New Haven just seconds into the first overtime session as Saint Rose goalkeeper Madison Taylor made a stellar one-on-one save against Kelly Quigley. The Golden Knights produced one shot in the first overtime which was blocked by goalkeeper Deandra Nash who had eight saves throughout the contest.
The second overtime offered a similar outcome as each team produced a shot but neither was able to score. Having played 110 minutes of scoreless soccer, the two teams headed to penalty kicks to determine who would advance to the semifinal match against sixth-seeded Assumption. For Coach Gutheil, she knew her team would be ready.
“We’ve been working on this [penalty kicks] for about three weeks now and you can definitely tell the level of composure and confidence they had,” she said following the game. “We really work with our players to be mentally prepared to handle the pressure and to deal with the reality that we might have to go to PKs.”
This hard work showed off as the Golden Knights outshot the Chargers 4-1 in penalty kicks. All four shot-takers for Saint Rose – Morgan Burchhardt, Joani Medero, Silavana Giovannone and Elisa Galbiati – were able to find the back of the net.
The semifinal matchup between the Golden Knights and the Greyhounds of Assumption on Friday evening produced several more goals leading to a 3-1 victory for Saint Rose.
In the first half, Assumption sophomore Amanda Arnold scored her 11th goal of the season keeping her among the top goal scorers in the NE-10 conference. Seven minutes later, sophomore Morgan Burchhardt put home her team leading eighth goal of the season. She would later surpass this mark with another goal in the 77th minute.
Senior Jennifer Busk gave the Golden Knights the lead a little over halfway through the second period. Saint Rose doubled the shot total of Assumption with 14 including five shots on goal.
The final stop for Saint Rose would be a championship matchup at Adelphi and for senior captain Nicole Shively, the opportunity was something special.
“It’s always an amazing feeling and privilege to play for a championship whether it’s the conference tournament or NCAA tournament,” said Shively before the championship game Sunday. “We work hard all year for postseason and to be in situations like this – playing in big games like these. It’s what you hope for and aspire to do all year and now we just have to finish it.”
Unfortunately for Shively and the rest of the Golden Knights women’s soccer team, the final goal of taking home yet another NE-10 title would fall just short.
Right around the 60-minute mark, Panthers junior Laura Gomez drove home the game’s only goal giving Adelphi their first NE-10 conference championship title and solidifying what is without question a special year for the Panthers.
Although disappointing, the outcome was no surprise for senior captain Amanda Vasquez who recognized the tough battle her team faced every time they took the field.
“Our league this year has been really close, closer than any of the past three seasons I’ve been here,” she said. “Every game we have played has been challenging and that has followed into the tournament. Each and every team gives us their best because we’re the team they want to beat so we’ve really had to be at our best in everything that we do.”
Yet, a highlight for the lady Golden Knights this week, came in the form of recognition for their outstanding play on the pitch during the 2015 season.
Eight student-athletes from the women’s team earned all-league honors from the Northeast-10 Conference. The All-Conference teams were selected by the league’s 15 head coaches.
Senior midfielder, Amanda Vasquez, once again was named first-team All-Conference, her second consecutive year being honored with the distinction. Sophomore forward, Morgan Burchhardt, followed up her stellar freshman campaign that saw her receive third-team All-League honors, with a first-team All-Conference nod this year.
Sophomore back, Elisa Galbiati, was the lone golden knight to amass second-team honors, while her teammates, senior back, Nicole Shively and senior midfielders, Gianna Smith and Michaela Phillips, garnered third-team All-Conference honors.
As for the rooks on the team, freshman midfielder, Danae Kaldaridou and freshman keeper, Madison Taylor, they were elected to the All-Rookie team.
