Brockport women’s soccer shines again

So far this season, the Brockport women’s soccer team has been nothing short of spectacular. The Eagles came out of their first six matches with a record of 5-0-1, outscoring opponents 23-4 over the stretch.

Last week, things were supposed to get tougher for the Eagles as they played their first two SUNYAC contests of the year. Apparently nobody told them, though, because they continued their unbeaten streak with a pair of impressive wins to push their record to an outstanding 7-0-1.

The Eagles played Buffalo State Friday, Sept. 21 to open conference play and took away a 3-1 win.

Early on in the game, the Eagles found themselves in an unfamiliar situation.

After Buffalo State scored an early goal to go up 1-0, the Eagles trailed their opponent for only the second time all season.

They wouldn’t trail for very long as senior midfielder and co-captain Kaila Maguire scored her fourth goal of the season to tie the game at 1-1 at 17:42. She dribbled through several Buffalo State defenders and bent the shot just inside the left goalpost.

Coach Joan Schockow said she was very impressed with Maguire’s goal.

“That was something,” Schockow said. “You don’t always see it out here, but she is one of the fastest human beings I have ever seen. She just went, and she broke through everybody.”

Later in the first half, junior midfielder Vanessa Gillette was assisted by sophomore midfielder Maria Malone to put the Eagles ahead 2-1. It was her fifth goal of the season.

The score stayed the same for most of the second period, until senior midfielder Sarah Lawson scored with less than 10 minutes left to play, giving the Eagles a 3-1 lead. The goal was her fourth of the season.

Saturday, Sept. 22, the Eagles took on nationally ranked Fredonia, who defeated then No. 1 ranked William Smith 1-0 Saturday, Sept. 15
The Eagles passed the test of national competition with flying colors, crushing Fredonia by a score of 5-1.

The team got things started fast.

Gillette scored her sixth goal of the season at the 1:40 mark, and began what would be a very long game for Fredonia.

That was just the beginning for Gillette, who would later score two more goals, giving her eight for the year.

Freshman midfielder Courtney Szczesniak and junior forward Katie Gildemeyer chipped in with their fourth and second goals of the season, respectively.

Despite being one of the SUNYAC points leaders, Gillette says she doesn’t care how she is doing individually as long as her team is winning games.

“I haven’t even looked at that,” Gillette said. “I’m here to win as a team and that’s all I’m worried about. Stats don’t mean anything unless the whole team wins together.”

Maguire, who had two assists against Fredonia, says she thinks the Eagles should get some recognition in the polls after they continued their unbeaten streak.

“I think we are deserving,” Maguire said. “Fredonia beat William Smith and they were ranked number one, and we not only beat them, we crushed them. I think we deserve it, but it’s not going to put us down if we don’t. It’s just going to push us more and make us work harder.”

The Eagles start a four-game road trip this week, when they play at the Oneonta Red Dragons Friday, Sept. 28 and the New Paltz Hawks Saturday, Sept. 29.

Last season, the Eagles lost to the Dragons 1-0 at home.  The Eagles, however, defeated the Hawks at home in an overtime thriller by the same score.