Despite dominating almost every facet of the Sept. 17 game, the Ithaca College women’s soccer team drew 0-0 against the Alfred University Saxons at Carp Wood Field.
Coming into the game, the two schools had faced off 35 times. Across that nearly 40-year period of games, the Bombers have won 34 contests, with the only outlying result being a 1-1 draw in 1995. This year’s Saxons squad came into the game 5-0-0, with a stout defense that had only allowed one goal all season.
The game initially reflected that generational dominance, as the Bombers relentlessly pressed and attacked the Saxons from the first whistle. The Bombers registered their first shot on goal just under three and a half minutes into the match off the leg of junior defender Reese Ruegamer. Meanwhile, the Saxons made their first and only shot on goal of the match at the 22:30 minute mark, which senior goalkeeper Grace Hickey was able to save with relative ease.
Unfortunately for the Bombers, dominant offensive stats were not enough to make up for poor finishing. They concluded the match by outshooting the Saxons 31-2, but could not come up with a goal. Many of the Bombers’ efforts were easily caught or saved by Alfred’s goalkeeper and captain junior Kiani Barnard-Pratt. Her 14 saves on the day were more than any Bomber goalkeeper has been forced to make in a game since 2014.
The best chance of the game for the Bombers came in the waning moments of the match, as graduate student midfielder Sarah Sinnott attempted to run onto a through ball played into the box in the 88th minute. Just as she was able to get on the end of it, a Saxon defender right at her heels was able to catch up with her, forcing Sinnott off-balance. The last ditch effort was just enough to throw Sinnott off and she blazed the game’s final clear-cut chance wide and high.
After the game, head coach Mindy Quigg said she was unhappy with the performance, citing the poor finishing in attack as the main cause.
“I mean, we had 30-plus chances to score to [Alfred’s] one or two,” Quigg said. “It’s a really disappointing and a poor result for us. [Creating] opportunities is great, but we just didn’t have any personality in front of the goal and didn’t have the composure that we needed.”
Throughout the game, the Bombers’ wide players repeatedly played crosses into the box, which either landed in open pockets of space where Bomber players should have been or were easily dealt with by the Saxon defense. Quigg said the team has a few ways of addressing this issue in the coming days of training.
“We’ve got to work on our connectivity,” Quigg said. “We’ve got to work on our chemistry, [players] reading one another, the pace of the pass, the purpose of the pass. I mean, we’ve got a lot to do to clean it up, for sure.”
The Bombers will have a short week to bounce back from their second goalless draw of the season. At 1 p.m. Sept. 21, the team will head to Lycoming College to take on yet another undefeated foe.
