ONEONTA, NY – Hartwick's women's soccer team nearly pulled a historic upset of nationally ninth-ranked Ithaca on Saturday at Elmore Field. A first-half penalty kick in the 19th minute from Amanda Callanan was all that separated the two teams in the conference opener for both clubs.

The Hawks had opportunities in both halves but couldn't find the tying goal. The Bombers would finish the match with a 13-5 edge in shots.

"Overall we're disappointed to lose the three points in the conference," stated Hartwick head coach Matt Verni following the match. "But we take away the belief that we can compete with the best programs in our region. Our work rate was tremendous and I give our players a lot of credit for their mentality in competing until the final whistle."

The Bombers came out firing as they had two good chances to break the deadlock inside six minutes. The first came on a Jackie Roadabaugh shot which was blasted into the air toward Hartwick keeper Hope Brown (Sherburne, NY/Sherburne-Earlville). The ball was over her head but she was able to get a piece of the ball and it deflected off the crossbar. Just over four minutes later, a shot from Callanan was cleared off the line by a Hawk defender.

At the 18:29 mark, a Hawk foul in the Hartwick box resulted in the Ithaca penalty. Callanan put the ball low to Brown's left to put the Bombers in front.

The Hawks settled in and began generating some scoring chances. Kylie Thayer (Ithaca, NY/Ithaca) had the first opportunity on a free kick roughly 25 yards out with about 25 minutes remaining. Thayer scored on a similar chance on Wednesday in the Hawks' 1-0 win over Bard. This time, however, her effort was well struck but ultimately over the bar.

With less than 10 minutes to play, Kristen McKasty (Bohemia, NY/Connetquot) came close to pulling 'Wick even. She played a ball in on goal from 30 yards out. The ball nearly dipped under the bar but Ithaca keeper Beth Coppolecchia made a difficult save to keep it out with a leaping catch on the goal line.

In the second half, the Hawks had perhaps their best chance of the day off a free kick with 19 minutes to play. Thayer served a ball into the IC box from 40 yards away. The ball deflected off of Cristina Sicari (St. James, NY/Smithtown East) and got past Coppolecchia. An Ithaca defender would clear the ball off the line before a Hawk could get a foot to it.

"We generated a few chances," added Verni, "but we needed to take advantage of them especially the free kick near the end when we caught the keeper out and just needed to tap it in."

Brown would make six saves in the Hartwick goal today. Coppolecchia would stop two for the Bombers.

"It was a great atmosphere today," said Verni. "We're very proud of the overall performance of the team."

The Hawks will host Elmira College next Wednesday night on Elmore beginning at 7 p.m. in another Empire 8 Conference match.