Cardinal Points

Issue date: 10/27/06 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Tetsuro Takehana Katrina Liska defends the ball during Tuesday night's game.

The conclusion of a rollercoaster-ride season for the Plattsburgh State University College women's soccer team is approaching this weekend after failing to make playoff contention

"We got off to a great start and accomplished a lot of good things that we haven't done in a long time - especially winning the Cardinal Classic," said senior captain Teresa Barber. "But conference play was disappointing for us."

Early in the season the women played their first five games without any loses. Thereafter, plagued by injuries, they lost six of their ten State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) games.

"Injuries played a huge part in our season this year," said another senior and captain Deanna Cipoletti.

Finishing strong in their conference games, 2-1-1, the women knew this last week of play was going to be tough.

Coming off of a two-game win streak against opponents Potsdam and Green Mountain colleges, the women hosted Middlebury College this past Tuesday.

The Panthers, who are 9-2-1, were a Final 8 team two years ago so the Cardinals knew the game would be no easy task.

"They were the best team we played against all year besides Oneonta," said Barber.

In the game's first five minutes, Middlebury's Laura Kwoh delivered a goal off of an assist from teammate Lindsay Walker.

The game remained at 1-0 until the second half when another Panther, Ashley Pfaff, headed a goal home off a corner kick from Erin Oliver. Oliver went on to score the game's third and final goal in the fifteenth minute of the second half.

Middlebury eased by Plattsburgh in both shots on goal and corner kicks, beating them 13-4 and 6-1, respectively.

"Middlebury was a strong team," said Cipoletti. "They moved the ball around very well."

The Lady Cards, who lose four senior players going into next year, knew the last two games of its regular season would be tough ones but still remain committed to finishing the season with a win.

The team who stands in their way of that goal is a very strong Skidmore team who hosts the Cards tomorrow at 3 p.m.

"We need to play with more speed and pass the ball more," said Cipoletti. The Skidmore Thoroughbreds, who are 10-3-3 overall, harvested a 10-game unbeaten streak this season. Whether in a different conference or not, it seems this game is not much different than the rest of the games played this season. The Cards need to get the ball in the back of the net, something they struggled with often this year. Play-off hopes were shattered in last week's game against Cortland when the PSUC women's offense could not get in a rhythm and suffered a 1-0 loss. The Cards only took nine shots and usually average nearly eighteen a game.

"My four years here were great," said Cipoletti. "I met a great group of girls and played college-level soccer at a competitive level. It is four years of my life I will never forget."

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