The NYU women’s soccer team fell to the Mount Saint Mary’s Knights on Tuesday, making their record 9-6. This marks the Violets’ third straight loss after dropping consecutive conference games at Washington University in St. Louis and the University of Chicago.
Both the Violets and the Knights were scoreless through the first half, but less than two minutes into the second half Division III leading scorer, Saint Mary’s forward Shanice Robe, gave the Knights a 1-0 lead after getting behind the Violets’ defense.
Ten minutes later, Robe scored again off a free kick from defender Lindsey Oro, which the freshman buried to give the Knights a 2-0 lead.
The Violets had chances to counter, but senior forward Serra Tumay and sophomore forward Cami Crawford sent shots wide of the net.
Tumay also had a chance to score off of a free kick, but Mount Saint Mary’s goalkeeper Jacquelyn Mancini saved the twisting shot. It proved to be the only shot on goal the Violets would get all night.
The team has scored only one goal in its last three games after being a prolific scoring offense all year long, scoring four or more goals in five games this season.
Freshman midfielder and forward Leslie Smith said the team had good combination play but needed to take more chances shooting.
“We have two days in practice to really shae up before a huge weekend, so we’ll probably work on indivdiual defending as well as shooting under pressure,” Smith said.
Freshman goalkeeper Meg Patten said though the Violets came out strong in the first half, Mount Saint Mary’s capitalized on their chances.
“Mount Saint Mary’s played with a lot of heart and that’s why they won the game,” Patten said. “At the end of any season, it’s about who wants it more and is willing to fight for it. We didn’t fight with as much gumption as we have in the past which is why this loss
was disappointing.”
The Violets have three crucial games against University Athletic Association opponents before their regular season ends. If the Violets can bounce back to win all three of those games, then they will end the season 12-6 with a 4-3 conference record. Having that winning conference record will be crucial if the team expects to advance to any kind of
postseason play.
The Violets’ next game will be against UAA foe Carnegie Mellon University at Gaelic Park this Friday at 11 a.m.
A version of this article appeared in the Wednesday, Oct. 24 print edition. Additional reporting by Sara Levy. Chris Marcotrigiano is a contributing writer. Email them at [email protected].