BROOKVILLE, N.Y. — It was a good news, bad news type of day for the Daemen College women's soccer team.
The bad news: Regionally-ranked Long Island University Post netted three goals in the span of eight minutes early in the second half en route to a 5-0 victory over Daemen here today in East Coast Conference action. LIUP, ranked fifth in the United Soccer Coaches NCAA Division II East Region poll, improved to 10-2-3 overall and 6-1-2 in the ECC. Daemen saw its three-game unbeaten streak come to an end and dropped to 7-7-1 overall and finished 5-4-0 in the league.
The good news: Despite the loss the Wildcats earned their first-ever bid to the ECC Championship Tournament. Daemen could have clinched a bid with a win today, but if the Wildcats lost today they could still make the tournament if New York Institute of Technology lost or tied Mercy College. NYIT suffered a 5-2 loss at Mercy, and Daemen secured the fourth and final bid to the ECC Tournament.
ECC semifinal games will be played Tuesday, Oct. 30. The top two seeds will host semifinal games. Pairings will be based on the final ECC standings.
Sophomore Samantha Gordon (Amityville, N.Y.) and junior Julia Duffy (Oceanside, N.Y.) both scored two goals today to lead the Pioneers over the Wildcats.
LIUP held a 1-0 lead at halftime, and the hosts doubled their lead just 1:35 into the second half when Gordon scored off a pass from junior Gabrielle Clark (Edmonds, Wash.). The scored remained 2-0 until the Pioneers took control with two goals by Duffy in the span of just one minute. Duffy tapped the ball into the left corner following a header by sophomore Erin O'Connor (Setauket, N.Y.) at 53:41. She then netted her team-leading 10th goal of the year at 54:43. Gordon closed out the scoring at 62:04 with her fifth goal of the season.
The LIUP defense, which has now held seven of its last 10 opponents scoreless, did not surrender a shot on goal today. The Pioneers finished with a 13-0 edge in shots on goal and also posted an 8-0 advantage in corner kicks.
Sophomore Maddie Flores (Seattle, Wash.) started in net for the Wildcats and stopped six of 11 shots on goal before giving way to classmate Katelin White (Lewiston, N.Y.). White registered two saves over the final 26:22. Senior Hillevi Eklow (Väröbacka, Sweden) picked up the win in goal for LIUP.
Daemen closes out the regular-season next Saturday (Oct. 27) when it travels to Chestnut Hill College in Philadelphia, Pa. for a non-league game.
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