SARANAC LAKE — The North Country Community College men's and women's soccer teams earned a sweep at home Sunday with victories over Tompkins Cortland.
The Saints women kicked off the doubleheader with a 6-0 triumph over the Panthers, and NCCC's men followed with a 3-1 win, which was their second of the season after not fielding a team a year ago.
NCCC's women are off to a solid start to their schedule. They improved to 4-1 on Sunday with their second credited win of the weekend. The Saints were slated to host Cayuga on Saturday, but that opponent forfeited due to a lack of players. NCCC then took on a Tompkins Cortland squad that arrived at the Sparks Athletic Complex with no substitutes, and their matchup was halted with 6:51 remaining in the game after three Panthers players left during the second half with injuries.
Nidia DeArmaYero had a big day for the Saints, finishing with four goals and a pair of assists. The sophomore forward who graduated from Salmon River Central School netted NCCC's first goal seven minutes into the match and buried three more shots in the second half.
Skyelin Bradford and Taylor Razis scored the Saints' other two goals. Bradford, a freshman from St. Regis Falls, tallied 17:00 into the game to put NCCC up 2-0, and Razis quickly tacked on the Saints' third score a minute later.
DeArmaYero then took over after intermission, scoring three times as Panthers players began to go down on the pitch. Tompkins Cortland stuck it out after losing two players to injuries, but the loss of a third late put a halt to the match.
The victory was the Saints' third straight, including Saturday's forfeit.
"It's too bad, they're just a few players away from being a good team. They're usually in the tournament," NCCC coach Kent Egglefield said of the Panthers. "They made regionals seven out of the last eight years. I know they only had 11, but that's a big win for us, especially to start at 4-1 now.
"The best thing about it is with the number of girls we have, we can run teams into the ground," Egglefield continued. "For the first time ever, I have 26 on the roster and I use every one of them. We have a lot depth. I can just keep going at teams and play as fast as we can."
Sunday marked the Panthers' women's second game in as many days after they edged Clinton Community College 2-1 in a contest played Saturday in Plattsburgh.
"We're going to have to assess where we're at when we get back home," Tompkins Cortland coach Robert Rice said. "We have a couple players injured who didn't travel with us, and we have another forward who didn't travel who was at a wedding. We started off the season with 14, and now it's kind of like day to day.
"The good thing is they're fighters. They fought," Rice added. "We played 38 minutes a man down, and 15 minutes, two down in this game. We're not the only school feeling it. Others have already dropped games."
The Saints outshot the Panthers 23-7. Kerrin O'Shaughnessy recorded 10 saves in goal for TC3 and Rosie Bamber stopped five shots to earn the shutout win in goal for NCCC.
In their three victories played, the Saints have outscored their opponents 22-1. NCCC's lone loss so far was a 4-0 setback at Genesee Community College on Aug. 25.
"This is the best team we've ever had," Egglefield said. "They execute well, they play for each other, and our defense hasn't given up a goal since Genesee. We're playing our formation perfectly right now; hopefully that stays that way. They get wide, they move without the ball and they run."