TEANECK, N.J. – The Fairleigh Dickinson women's soccer had won eleven straight home matches before Wednesday night when the Monmouth Hawks visited University Stadium and left with a 2-0 win.
"I saw [the team] compete a lot better. Monmouth is a tough team to play against and they are physically strong but I thought we battled with them," said head coach
Eric Teepe afterwards. "We allowed an unfortunate goal at the end of the first half, which made it a lot tougher us to come back. We put ourselves in good situations but were a little tentative to attack them."
Monmouth (5-4-1) controlled the ball and fired 12 shots in the opening 45 minutes, two of which found the back of the net. The Hawks outshot 20-3 over the full 90 minutes. The three shots by the Knights came from
Elma Kolenovic (New York, N.Y./NYC Lab),
Giselles Perez (Carteret, N.J./Carteret) and
Tara Heatley (Warwick N.Y./Warwick Valley).
The first goal for the Hawks came on a follow-up attempt from Rachael Ivanicki, who put in a rebound off her own shot, in the 31st minute. The Knights' goalkeeper,
Amanda Fitzgerald (Holbrook, N.Y./Sachem East) – made five saves in the first half and finished with nine – got the first shot Ivanicki at the left post.
The Hawks doubled their advantage in the final minute of the half as Madie Gibson got a pass from Lexie Palladino and streaked down the left wing and got inside a Knight defender and beat Fitzgerald to the far right post.
Fairleigh Dickinson (2-9) had some chances in the first half but were unable to make the final pass in the attacking third. The lone shot on goal came from
Elma Kolenovic (New York, N.Y./NYC Lab) in the 12th minute, which went right at Amanda Knaub.
The Knights had shots on goal in the second half but both were right at Knaub.
Jessi Reinhardt (Freiberg, Germany/Burggymansium) found some space down the left side but the ensuing cross went untouched by a Knight and was cleared in the 75th minute.
Northeast Conference play awaits the Knights on Sunday when they welcome Saint Francis U to University Stadium in the conference opener for both sides. Game time is set for 12 p.m. and it will be aired live on necfrontrow.com.
