Aston, PA | The College of Staten Island women's soccer team dropped their second game in five days, 2-1, at the hands of Neumann University. The Dolphins fell to 6-4 with the loss while Neumann evened out at 5-5.
CSI was eager to put a goal on the board early and was flagged for an offside just 48 seconds into the game. It was Neumann who fired the first shot as they began to find holes in the Dolphins' defensive line. Carissa Britton put
Kaila DiBenedetto to work in the 12th minute, forcing her to make a save.
The Knights kept the pressure on the Dolphins and were able to crack the code as Morgan Ryan cleaned up a rebound inside the 18-yard box for her first goal of the season. Staten Island struggled to generate any offense in the early goings of the game as their first shot didn't come until the 30th minute.
Lauren Smith didn't waste her opportunity as she put her shot on frame making Anna Attardi make a save to keep the Knights ahead.
The Dolphins seemed to settle in and began to figure out how to create chances against the Knights.
Alexa Appel and
Victoria Sanchez both rifled off a shot with Sanchez's opportunity being parried away by Attardi.
After building momentum towards the end of the first half the Dolphins hoped to carry that over into the second half. Unfortunately, that didn't come to fruition as it was the Knights who doubled their total just five minutes into the second half. Britton was able to find some breathing room atop the 18-yard box and fire a shot towards goal that found its way past an outstretched DiBenedetto.
It wasn't until the 81st minute that the Dolphins would strike.
Samantha Lepardo received a pass from
Nicole Mignone and was able to put it in the back of the net for the first goal of her collegiate career.
After Lepardo scored, the Knights locked the gates and shut down any offensive attack the Dolphins started to create. DiBenedetto was called upon four more times in the final 9 minutes and made the saves necessary to keep Neumann from putting a third on the board.
Neumann totaled eight corner kicks on the day to just three for Staten Island. The Knights also edged out the Dolphins 14-9 in shots.
The Dolphins return to action on Wednesday, October 3 when they travel to take on FDU-Florham at 3:30 pm.
