It was a week of missed opportunities for the SUNY Plattsburgh women’s soccer team after it tied their first SUNYAC game in double overtime and lost its second the following day again in double overtime.
The Cardinals headed into their conference schedule with a 4-2 record and after a 5-0 shutout win against Colby-Sawyer College, where sophomore forward Kirsten Villemaire and senior defender Sarah Bonner swept the PrestoSports women’s soccer weekly awards from the SUNYAC.
For her first collegiate hat trick, Villemaire was awarded Offensive Player of the Week. Bonner’s role in allowing only five shots and two on goal by Colby-Sawyer to go along with a career-high three assists earned her Defensive Player of the Week.
Plattsburgh State met Fredonia first for its first road game of the weekend.
The Cards’ offense acted quickly by scoring in the fourth minute of the first half with a goal from Villemaire, her sixth of the season.
The game’s next goal came in the 58th minute by Plattsburgh State’s junior forward Abigail Seamans. The Blue Devils responded with a goal of their own in the 64th minute, but it took the Cards only a minute to net another goal to expand their lead to 3-1.
Poised to leave Fredonia with its first conference win of the season, Plattsburgh State allowed a goal with 11 minutes remaining but still had the lead until the final minute of regulation, when it gave up another goal to Fredonia’s senior midfielder Melanie Minotti.
Only one shot was taken by either team in the first overtime period, and it was saved by the Cards’ freshman goalkeeper Julia Ennis with only a minute left in the period.
Plattsburgh State outshot Fredonia 2-1 in the final overtime, but none of the attempts connected for either team, leaving both teams with a tie.
It was more of the same for the Cards the following day against the Bengals, only this time, they left with a loss.
Villemaire kicked off scoring for both teams in the first half again, this time for her seventh goal of the season. Villemaire is now tied for first in goals scored in the SUNYAC.
The second period remained scoreless until Buffalo State scored two goals within five minutes of each other toward the end of the half. Bonner responded just in time with nine seconds remaining to equal the score 2-2 to force overtime.
Both teams took one shot each in the first overtime but couldn’t connect. Buffalo State scored the deciding goal in the second overtime period to deliver Plattsburgh State’s first conference loss of the season.
“Tough, tough weekend to start. I know we’re not all very excited about it,” Armellino said, “but it just highlights again everything that you gotta work on and work to fix, and that’s what we’re looking forward to do before hosting the second weekend of conference play.”
The Cards play their first pair of home SUNYAC games starting today with SUNY Geneseo at the Field House at 4 p.m. They then play The College at Brockport tomorrow at 1 p.m.
Sophomore forward Allison Seidman is looking forward to the challenge taking on No.16 Geneseo.
“[Geneseo being ranked] makes us want to beat them even more,” she said. “Even last year, when we had those two chances [to win], we were very close. This year, we’re going to beat them.”
