Women’s soccer suffers 0-2 start to season

SU’s women’s soccer team lost a pair of home games this week, falling to Frostburg State 1-0 on Thursday before falling to Saint Michael’s on Saturday 2-0.

Both contests were spirited affairs that saw the Raiders have scoring opportunities, but they failed to convert.

Thursday’s season opener against the Bobcats was a fierce midfield battle for most of the match. Each team mustered only three shots on goal. It was scoreless for the first 84 minutes, until Frostburg State scored from a deflected shot off a corner kick that snuck over the end line.

Speaking on the competitiveness of the match, Shippensburg head coach Rob Fulton said, “There wasn’t a ton of short or chances either way, it just seemed like it was going to come down to potentially a free kick or corner kick … we just didn’t defend that one at the end as well as we need to.”

The only Raider with multiple shots in the game was sophomore Gabrielle Walker, who had a pair of shots on goal. Redshirt freshman goalkeeper Kirstin Brown saved two shots in her collegiate debut, one of five SU players who appeared in their first collegiate match.

Fulton discussed the freshmen that made their debut. “I think our freshman class is quite good,” he said. “I was happy to see some of them step up and get their first look in a game, and I thought they actually performed pretty well.”

Saturday’s contest again saw the Raiders match their opponent in shots on goal. Both teams earned five shots a piece, but the Purple Knights were the only team able to convert any shots into goals.

Saint Michael’s first scored in the 21st minute, a shot into the bottom left of the net that was deflected by Brown but still managed to trickle into the net. They struck again in the 58th minute, scoring off a corner kick that the Raiders attempted to clear, but were unable to.

Junior Kaitlyn DiCandilo had two shots on goal, the only SU player with more than one. Shippensburg had 10 corner kicks in the match compared to only two for the visitors but were just unable to convert on any of them. Brown made three saves in the net.

The rest of the team’s season consists of only conference games against PSAC East foes, beginning with a single game this week on the road against West Chester at 2 p.m.. on Wednesday.