WEST POINT, N.Y. – Army West Point scored three first half goals to get past Fairleigh Dickinson 4-1 on Sunday afternoon.
The loss is the Knights' (1-7) sixth straight, which is the longest streak for the Knights since losing seven straight to end the 2011 season.
Tara Heatley (Warwick N.Y./Warwick Valley) supplied the lone goal of the afternoon for the Knights late in the second half.
"This was a game where we did not compete for the first 30 minutes," said head coach
Eric Teepe. "We gave up some soft goals and once we started competing, the game was already decided. We keep learning lessons about the Division I game being a young team but at some point we have to start learning from those lessons and quit repeting the same mistakes. We have been unlucky to not win some games [so far this season] but today we took a step back and did not give ourselves a chance to win."
Madison McGinn got the Black Knights an early 1-0 lead with her second of the season off a feed from Nicole Bautista in the 11th minute.
Army West Point (2-7) doubled its advantage through Sam Sullenger in the 29th minute when she collected her own rebound off an initial save by Amada Fitzgerald. Brianna Nicholas tallied the third goal of the first half for the Black Knights just past the half-hour mark.
The Knights' best chance of the opening 45 minutes came off the foot of
Elma Kolenovic (New York, N.Y./NYC Lab). The sophomore dribbled down the left wing and got inside the 18 but her shot was stopped by Jordan Cassalia, who made five saves in her 82 minutes of action.
Kristina Neri (San Jose, Calif./Santa Teresa) had a shot from inside the six-yard box off a corner in the 37th minute that was pushed wide right.
The Knights held a 10-6 lead in shots in the opening half but five-of-the-six were on goal for Army with three finding the back of the net.
Sullenger made it 4-0 Black Knights on her second of the game and season with 11 minutes to play when she knocked in a rebound that followed an Army West Point free kick that was played in on goal.
Heatley got the Knights on the board in the 85th minute when she converted from the penalty spot. It was her first goal and points of the season and career. After a quick restart, off a foul Heatley had her shirt pulled in the box and was awarded the penalty.
The teams finished even with 15 shots – 11 on goal for Army West Point and six for Fairleigh Dickinson.
Fairleigh Dickinson returns to action on Thursday, September 22 when they host Stony Brook at 7 p.m. at University Stadium. It is the home opener for the Knights.
