Staten Island, NY | The College of Staten Island women's soccer team was unable to erase a two-goal deficit, despite a strong rally towards the end of the game. The Dolphins dropped the game to the Devils of FDU-Florham, 2-1, in non-conference action at the CSI Soccer Complex. Staten Island dropped to 6-5 overall while FDU-Florham improved to 8-3-1 on the year.
The Dolphins opened the game well, keeping possession and moving the ball around the Devils' defenders and put pressure on Ashley Paulino in net.
Nermina Bracic and
Mirsade Pelinkovic were both able to break free in the beginning of the game and rifle off a shot. Finding success with the long through balls, the Dolphins were using their speed and Pelinkovic was able to find space once again only to see her shot blocked by Paulino.
As the game wore on, the Devils began to take control as the fast start by the Dolphins seemed to take a toll on their stamina. In the 16th minute, FDU-Florham would strike. Erica Martins would gather a loose ball inside the 18-yard box on the left side and send a lofted shot over
Kaila DiBenedetto's head into the far side of the net for her fourth goal of the season.
With full control of the game, the Devils began to pepper the Dolphins with shots. Amanda Croce nearly doubled FDU-Florham's lead but saw her shot bounce off of the crossbar and back into play. That shot seemed to shock the Dolphins and they regained their shape and stormed down the field.
Lauren Smith found herself 20-yards away from goal and uncorked a shot that nearly snuck into the upper right corner of the goal. Instead, the ball bounced off of the frame, keeping the Dolphins scoreless going into the half.
The Devils came out in the second half and continued to dominate possession of the ball. FDU-Florham continued to fire shots at DiBenedetto's net but were unable to hit their mark. Brianna Cucinelli, doubled FDU-Florham's lead in the 67th minute. Cucinelli received a long through ball over the top down the right side from Madeline Finnegan and hit a low driven shot into the bottom left corner.
CSI would not back out of this game as the started to gain momentum in the last 10 minutes.
Alexa Appel was able to pick up her second goal of the season when she headed a corner kick from
Adrianna Parello into the upper 90 to bring the Dolphins within one. Unfortunately, the Dolphins were only able to generate one more shot, which went wide, in the final 10 minutes.
The loss marks the second in a row for the Dolphins as they will look to regroup and prepare for a CUNYAC clash with CCNY on Saturday, October 6 at the CSI Soccer Complex.
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