In their fourth game of the 2015 campaign, the Syracuse Orange faced an evenly-matched opponent in Albany in the final game of the New York Challenge Cup on Sunday afternoon at the SU Soccer Stadium. Coming into the contest, both teams had identical records, with almost identical results, as far as the pattern of wins and losses.
Albany is coming off of a 7-9-5 effort in 2014 in which they finished fourth overall in the America East Conference and made it to the semifinals of the conference tournament. Sophomore forward Vivian Vega scored nine goals and had four assists for 22 points. Her season-long performance led to many end-of-season accolades, including America East Rookie of the year, an All-Conference First Team selection, a Conference All-Rookie Team selection, and a Conference All-Championship Team selection. Close behind her was redshirt sophomore forward/midfielder Kiana Rugar with five goals and seven assists to lead to 17 total points. She was also named to the America East All-Rookie Team. Rounding out the top point-earners, senior midfielder Krista Fitzpatrick had five goals and five assists for the Great Danes. In goal, senior Alana Brennan allowed 27 goals on 111 saves for a 1.25 goals-against average and .804 save percentage.
The game itself began slowly, with two shots to four in favor of Syracuse in the first half. Albany's Mariah Williams, a freshman forward, broke the scoreless tie in the 48th minute on a second-chance shot. The Orange were swift to tie things up at one five minutes later off of an Eva Gordon goal. After several decent chances on both sides, junior forward Stephanie Skilton scored what would be the game-winning goal in the 84th minute. Combined, the teams had 17 shots in the second half, 11 more than the first.
Key Players
- Stephanie Skilton - 3 shots, 1 goal
- Alexis Koval - 1 shot, 2 assists
- Mariah Williams - 1 shot, 1 goal
- Alana Brennan - 2 goals-against, 5 saves
- Courtney Brosnan - 1 goal-against, 3 saves
Up Next
The Orange will face their next big test of the season in an old Big East Conference foe, No. 25 UConn (3-0-0) later this evening in Storrs, CT.
G'Orange!