Women’s Soccer wins home opener

NEW PALTZ — The SUNY New Paltz women’s soccer team defeated St. Joseph’s of Long Island in their first home game of the season Saturday by a score of 7-0. The Hawks improved their record to 2-1 on the season.

New Paltz dominated St. Joseph’s from start to finish allowing only one shot on goal all game. The hawks finished with a 30-1 advantage in shots. Meri Ventimiglia (Patchogue, NY) opened the scoring from in close midway through the first half off an assist from Lindsay Martin (Mansfield, OH). Maria Puccio (Malverne, NY) then headed home a Michele Branca (Holbrook, NY) cross with 1:20 left giving the Hawks a 2-0 lead at the half. In the second stanza Therese Nordlund (Lulea, Sweden) struck at the 21:35 mark off a nice feed from Branca and again at 24:53 from Lauren Pastore (Levittown, NY). Just over a minute later, Branca got one of her own on a nice pass from Nordlund making it 5-0. Kristen Fengler (North Babylon, NY) made it 6-0 on a shot that looped over the goalkeeper from twelve yards out and Keegan Peck (Canastota, NY) closed out the scoring in the final minute of play on a scramble in front of the goal. Kate Roussel (Staten Island, NY) picked up the assist. The Hawks return to action on Tuesday when they host Manhattanville at 4:00 and open up conference play at home hosting Potsdam and Plattsburgh on Friday and Saturday.