HAMILTON – Ally Giovino scored her first collegiate goal and
Grace Poncsak tallied her first collegiate shutout in Colgate's 1-0 season-opening win over Fordham on Thursday night at Beyer-Small '76 Field.
Giovino's goal came 13 minutes into the first half, and the sophomore forward wears number 13 for the maroon and white. That just had to be a good omen.
The early first-half marker was all Colgate needed behind three saves from senior keeper Poncsak. She earned her first Colgate victory between the pipes with the clean sheet.
Colgate controlled possession early. An eighth-minute corner kick by
Ruby Diodati laid in front of the net but the Raiders couldn't cash in. Poncsak was tested in the 10th minute and she was up to the task, corralling a long shot from Fordham's Claudia Cuicani with both hands at the center of the net for her opening save.
Three minutes later, Colgate found the back of the net with a pretty tic-tac-toe created by
Hannah Pinkus. The senior midfielder threaded a pass through Fordham defenders toward the right side of the attacking zone, where
Adrienne Vaughn redirected it to the center of the box and Giovino was on the receiving end for the open go-ahead marker in the 13th minute.
Poncsak negated a pair of Fordham threats late in the first half. She first won the race to a loose ball on a near-breakaway and then in the 43rd minute made a diving save to deflect the shot wide and hold the 1-0 halftime lead for the Raiders.
Colgate saw its first four shots of the second half blocked by Fordham defenders. Vaughn broke through with a low strike in the 65th minute, but the Rams keeper worked to her left and picked up the save.
Fordham on the other end started celebrating after a corner kick was redirected to the back of the net for what appeared to be the equalizer in the 60th minute. The officials ruled a no-goal, however, due to an offensive foul on Poncsak inside the box.
Lyna Schaffer came away with the best scoring chance down the stretch, but her long drive hammered off the crossbar. Colgate stayed on the attack and never let Fordham set up offensively to preserve the 1-0 victory.
FROM THE SOURCE
Head Coach Lyndse Hokanson
"I'm really proud of the group for weathering all of the storms – both on and off the field. Fordham is a really good team and they're going to make you work for everything you get. We learned that. Both halves went back-and-forth. For us, this is a good starting point. We didn't put together a full 90 minutes but hopefully we can use this as a launch pad.
"We created some good chances that we didn't put away. We had to shake out the home jitters. Now we'd like to say, 'Okay how can we go forward from here?' Putting together a complete performance will be our next step. All in all it was a great start."
UP NEXT
Colgate stays home to host Eastern Michigan next Thursday. Kickoff from Beyer-Small '76 Field is slated for 4:30 p.m.
