HAMILTON – Mara Cosentino registered her first two goals of the season to propel the Colgate women's soccer team to a 3-1 victory over American on Sunday in a Patriot League matchup at Beyer-Small '76 Field.
Â
Colgate struck early just 5:03 into the contest.
Abby Sotomayor possessed the ball on the right side near the top of the box and passed across to the left side, where Cosentino cut in and beat Eagles keeper Ryleigh Brown with a one-timer back the other direction. Brown got her hand on the shot, but the ball trickled over the goal line to give the Raiders the 1-0 lead.Â
Â
Sotomayor came away with another great chance less than three minutes later, forcing a save from point blank after making a nice move on an American defender near the penalty kick mark. Â
Â
The Raiders continued to dictate the pace of play through the half. In the 20th minute,
Dom DeMarco had a solid opportunity to pad the Raiders' lead but her blast from 20 yards out was pulled in by Brown. She fired another shot just wide minutes later to highlight Colgate's early chances.Â
Â
Kelly Chiavaro made three saves in the half, including one with less than two minutes left, to send the match to halftime with the Raiders ahead, 1-0.
Â
Colgate forced heavy pressure in the second stanza and Cosentino doubled Colgate's lead in the 79th minute on a strong finish in front of the net.
Natalie Kozlowski led
Adrienne Vaughn with a pass through the Eagles' back line and Vaughn immediately centered a pass in front, where Cosentino beamed a one-timer to the back of the net.
Â
American responded less than four minutes later to break the shutout streak. Gabriela Maldonado controlled possession on the left side and sent a cross into the box, where Madie Light redirected it with a header inside the right post to cut the deficit back to one at 2-1 in the 83rd minute.
Â
Ruby Diodati put a stamp on the Raider victory with a goal from 25 yards out less than two minutes later.
Sage DiGiulio inserted a corner to Diodati, who tucked a long blast out of reach of Brown and underneath the crossbar to stretch Colgate's lead back to two at 3-1.
Â
The Raiders controlled possession over the final five minutes of regulation to hold the 3-1 triumph.
Â
BOTTOM LINE
• Colgate 1, American 0.
Â
RECORD UPDATES
• Colgate improved to 6-2-3 overall and 3-0-1 in Patriot League play.Â
• American dropped to 5-4-3 on the season and 0-3-1 in league action.Â
RAIDER LEADERS
• Cosentino and Diodati were the goal scorers for Colgate.
• Sotomayor, Kozlowski, Vaughn, and DiGiulio provided the assists.
• Chiavaro earned three saves in the win to improve to 6-2-2 on the season.
BY THE NUMBERS
• In the month of September, Colgate posted a 5-0-2 record to push its unbeaten streak to seven straight.
• With the late goal by American, the Raiders' scoreless streak ended at 474 minutes.Â
• Colgate improved to 15-4-2 against American all-time and has won seven in a row.
• Shots finished 16-7 in favor of the Raiders.
• The Raiders held a 5-2 advantage in corner kicks.
Â
FROM THE SOURCE
• Colgate head coach
Kathy Brawn: I am proud of our effort today. American is a great team and we did a great job of managing what we could control.
Scoring an early goal was very important for us but we could have taken better advantage of that. American scored a terrific goal late so it was really important for us to respond once more.
This team is an incredible group. We train hard, we train well together, and we have great competitive practices to help us prepare for these types of matches. Now we have to get ready for another tough battle at Lafayette Saturday.
Â
GATE GRAB BAG
• Attendance at Beyer-Small '76 Field was 303.
UP NEXTÂ
• Colgate is back in action on Saturday at Lafayette.Â
• Kickoff from Easton, Pa., is set for 7 p.m.
Â
