Women’s Soccer Ties Wm. Paterson in First Game at Danzi Stadium

Patchogue, N. Y. - St. Joseph's College (1-1-1) drew even with William Patterson University (0-1-2) in women's soccer as the team's battled into double overtime in Wednesday evening's home-opener.  The nail-biter ended with a score of 2-2.   The match marked the first game that the women's soccer team played at the new St. Joseph's Outdoor Athletic Complex and Danzi Stadium.  It was an occasion to which the Lady Eagles rose to after losing four key seniors from last year's squad.

WPU, from the strong New Jersey Athletic Conference, took an early lead with a goal by Taylor Zabicki (Bridgewater, N.J./Bridgewater-Raritan) off of a corner kick from Laela Brock (Paramus, N.J. /Paramus).  SJC stayed in the game, matching WPU's energy and moving the ball.  At minute 64:24, WPU scored for the last time on a penalty kick, bringing the score to 2-0.

At the 80:22 mark, sophomore defender Nicole Lyman (West Babylon, N.Y./West Babylon) gave SJC the spark it needed with a goal off of a direct kick that sailed right over the goalie's hands and into the upper right hand corner of the net. The Lady Eagles maintained their composure, testing WPU's defense and pressuring their offense.  With time dwindling down at 89:21, SJC bounced another goal off of a WPU defender after a corner kick. 

With the game tied at two, the teams battled for twenty more minutes in double-overtime without another score.  The Eagles junior goalie Kayla Flowers (Patchogue, N.Y/Patchogue-Medford) finished the game with seven saves.

St. Joseph's next contest is against New Jersey City at the Rutgers-Newark Tournament in Newark, New Jersey on Saturday.  They will then be matched up with the tournament host on Sunday.  Both games start at 8 p.m.

(Game Story by Caitlynn Webber)