The North Country Saints Women's Soccer Team opened their 2015 season with a split on their western New York road trip.
In Friday's first game, the Saints dropped a tough opener to upstart Erie Community College 4-0. Playing without sophomore center back Abby Barnes, the Saints struggled to keep it together defensively and allowed three first have goals. "We didn't play terrible defensively, but we made three big mistakes in the first half and they capitalized on all three of them," said Saints Coach Kent Egglefield. In the second half, despite controlling much of the play and possession, the Saints couldn't put one past Erie goalkeeper Alex Zentz. Erie added a late goal on a quick counter while the Saints defense was pushed up field.
On Saturday the Saints beat Jamestown Community College in a very sloppily played match. Freshman Katie Beach got the Saints on the board early with her first collegiate goal on a setup from Morgan Fountain. Fountain then made the score 2-0 on a feed from Kylee Cassavaugh 14 minutes in. Jamestown wouldn't go away though scoring the next two goals to tie the game at 2. With a minute left in the first half, Freshman Chloe Parker ripped a shot to the upper corner to give the Saints the lead for good. Morgan Fountain picked up her second assist of the game. "Chloe's goal was huge." said Egglefield. "They had gotten all the momentum and for her to score with a minute left, kinda took the wind out of their sails." Fountain would then score the next two goals of the second half to complete her hattrick. "Morgan was a beast Saturday, she wasn't going to let us lose both games." said Egglefield. Jamestown tallied late to bring the final to 5-3. Jadeen Chisholm was strong in the Saints net stopping 9 shots, while Morgan Fountain finished with 3 goals and two assists.
"All in all I can't complain about splitting a long road trip, especially against two of the top teams in the west," stated Coach Egglefield. "But we need to clean up our play and get our defense together."
The Saints return to the field for a pair of home games this weekend taking on Cayuga CC Saturday at 2:00pm and Sunday vs. Tompkins Cortland CC at 1:00pm.
