ALFRED, NY – Having clinched a spot in the Empire 8 Tournament already due to Sage's loss at the hands of St. John Fisher earlier in the day, the Hartwick women's soccer team earned a point to help them with playoff seeding, tying on the road at Alfred, 2-2 in double overtime. The draw moves the Hawks to 10-3-3 and into a tie for the second seed in the conference with St. John Fisher, at 3-0-3 (12 points, two behind first-place Nazareth). Alfred is now 8-5-4 and 2-2-2 in the E8, and at eight points is hanging on to the final playoff spot by a thread.
The Saxons put a jolt into the game early, scoring in the ninth minute. After Emily Wright's corner was initially cleared out, Alfred sent it back in and Amanda Guariglia found herself with some space, stepped up, and drove one out of reach of Hartwick keeper Cassandra Robataille (Amsterdam, NY/Amsterdam) for the game's first goal.
The two teams traded shots in the 14th and 15th minutes, but it took until the next try after those in the 31st minute for another score, this time by the visiting side. Tanner Reed (Unadilla, NY/Unatego Central) sent a beautiful ball up the middle, splitting Alfred's last two backs. Gabrielle Kreppein (Glens Falls, NY/South Glens Falls) was able to narrowly beat out one of those backs for the ball and flip it by a charging goalkeeper for the tying tally at 30:31. The rest of the half went by fairly quietly, aside from a shot by Natalie O'Brien that missed wide in the 42nd minute.
Alfred took the first three shots of the second half, but Hartwick took advantage of an opportunity to gain the lead in the 70th minute. They pressured the Saxons on a rush and drew a foul in the box, earning a penalty kick. Reed took it, and sent one high and to the left side of the goal, out of the reach of keeper Hannah Fuller's arms for the go-ahead score..
The Saxons wasted little time knotting the game up again. O'Brien sent in a bomb from 20 yards out and well wide of even with the post, placing it just out of the reach of Robataille's hands for a superb score at 73:57. Reed almost got her second of the evening in the 81st minute. She shot left-footed from the top of the box, sending one destined for the corner of the net, but Fuller made a very nice diving save to keep it out. Julia Collado (Whitehouse Station, NJ/Hunterdon) also nearly had the winner, this one all the way in the 90th minute, but she pushed one wide as the game headed to overtime.
The first extra period saw one excellent chance for Alfred. Lexi Riffelbach made a bid for a golden goal in the 94th minute, floating one up and over the head of Robataille, but it hit the crossbar and bounced back into play where it was cleared out.
The second overtime was similar lacking in legitimate scoring chances. Alfred's Karah Landries put one just wide in the 106th minute in the period's best opportunity. After a brief delay due to the lights going out with under three minutes remaining, Katie Ziniti (Chester, NH/Pinkerton Academy) was wide on the game's final shot, with the buzzer eventually sounding on the 2-2 draw.
Ziniti led the Hawks with three shots, one on target, but it was Reed and Kreppein with the goals on two shots. Reed also had the helper on Kreppein's tally. Robataille played all 110 minutes and made four saves, although she saw her shutout streak snapped at 370:44 on the first goal.
O'Brien led all players with four shots (three on target, one in the target), while Guariglia was right behind with three shots and her tally. Riffelbach had two scoring attempts, and four other Saxons had shots. Fuller played the night in net, making three saves on five tries.
Hartwick was uncharacteristically lackluster this game, getting outshot 13-9 by the hosts (6-5 on target). Alfred also more than doubled Hartwick's corner total, at 7-3.
The Hawks have one more regular season game, a home date with Sage on Saturday, November 2 at 12 p.m. 'Wick will honor their seniors before the game for their hard work and commitment to the program in their time on Oyaron Hill. The game is also important for seeding reasons, as Hartwick can finish anywhere from first to third in the conference, depending on their result against Sage as well as the result that comes out of Nazareth vs. St. John Fisher.
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