The Plattsburgh State women’s soccer team rebounded from its blowout loss to St. Lawrence with a strong performance in a 1-1 tie against Potsdam last Saturday.
Head coach Tania Armellino was satisfied with how her team rebounded defensively after being blown out 5-1 the game before, especially considering that the Bears had scored 23 times in their previous nine games.
“You could see the differences in our defensive play, so as coach you have to be happy with that,” Armellino said. “We worked on running through the ball, fighting for the balls in the air and being more compact defensively. All those things came together.”
The Cardinals heavily dominated play throughout the game. They outshot Potsdam 20-9, missing on some chances they would probably like back, a fact not lost on Armellino.
“We had the majority of the opportunities, some things just weren’t falling our way,” Armellino said. “One shot was saved by a defender right on the goal line, and there were definitely a few other chances here and there.”
Senior midfielder Lisa Bueche was excited that her team got off to a good start in SUNYAC play and liked the heart she saw in it.
“SUNYACs is a crazy experience, Bueche said. You prepare all season to get to SUNYACs, and it’s a different level of competition. We had the tough loss against St. Lawrence, who is a good team, but I think the fact that we were able to bounce back shows how much heart this team has. This is the team that we feel could really win SUNYACs.”
PSUC tied the game roughly 15 minutes into the second half off of a goal from senior midfielder Madeline Saccocio, her eighth goal on the season.
“The best part about Madeline is her technical ability,” Armellino said. “Even if there’s two players on her, she has a great confidence and a desire to score. Against Potsdam, she just got the ball from Rachel (Moran) found a seam between the two defenders and finished it far right. It’s exciting to watch what she can do.”
Next up, the Cards will face two more SUNYAC opponents before playing some non-conference action next week.
Today, they will play in Oswego against a Lakers team that has a 4-2-1 overall record and a 1-1-0 conference record. Tomorrow, they face off against the Cortland Red Dragons team that is 5-0-3 overall and 2-0-0 in conference play.
Senior midfielder Cait Gagen knows that she and her teammates will come out and play their game no matter what opponent they are facing.
“We need to play our game,” Gagen said. “Right now we’re just learning how they play and focusing on what we learned from last Saturday’s game and how we can get better from that.”
Armellino echoed Gagen’s sentiment, and is confident that her team will be ready for this weekend’s conference action.
“They’re both going to be good oppopnents,” Armellino said. “When you get into conference play, momentum for everyone changes. The hype up and preparation is different. We’re taking both Oswego and Cortland seriously. We’re taking what we’ve worked on all week on the road, and hopefully it will translate to wins in the two games.”
Email Ben Watson at sports@cardinalpointsonline.com
