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| Fighting for ball: RIT's Shireen Irani, 6, and Hamilton College's Kendra Wulczyn battle over the ball. |
| Kelsey Evans |
The RIT women’s
soccer team dropped
their season opener
to the Hamilton
Continentals in a 1-2 loss.
“Hamilton, being the
first of the season, was
a big game,” described
senior goalkeeper and
Photojournalism major
Ashley Conti. For the first
45 minutes of the match,
possession bounced
between both teams and
RIT had little opportunity
for a goal.
With 12 seconds of the half, Hamilton
forward Erica Dressler was
alone in front of the net and made
an attempt to break the scoreless
tie. Conti was ready, though, and
had the perfect angle to make a
spectacular save.
By the time the tigers entered the
locker room at halftime they were
frustrated. Erica Main, a senior
forward and Interior Design major,
felt the pressure: “I knew I needed
to find a way to get a goal and
put my team on top.” And she did;
Main scored in the eightieth minute
alone deflecting the ball off the
Hamilton goalie Kate Fowler and
right into the net. Kristen Denniger, a senior midfielder and Biology
major, has the assist in the form of
a long pass from about midfield.
The celebration was short-lived,
however. Just 42 seconds after Main’s
goal, Lauren Farver of the Continentals
came up the left side and ripped
a shot past Conti, breaking the tie
and giving Hamilton the 2-1 lead. RIT
had a few opportunities, but could
not capitalize to get the tie.
With only seconds left, Conti made
a bold decision. As she carried the
ball up to the 18-yard line to punt,
she did something quite surprising.
Conti dropped the ball to her
feet and took off dribbling down the
field. After she had gotten about 2/3
of the way down the field, Hamilton
finally stopped her. Conti provided
reasoning the move by saying, “It
wasn’t as much as being gutsy but
knowing that I can get the ball up
there to help the team. I wanted us
to score one more goal, and I didn’t
care what it took to do that against
Hamilton.” If Conti had succeeded,
she would have chipped the ball to
Main in hopes of an assist to a goal.
Main agreed with the bold move:
“The game is all about chances.”
RIT knew going in that Hamilton
was a tough team, one known
for aggression and tenacity. Main
described their reputation as a
“school known for height and
size.” This is a trait that RIT does
not share.
Conti reflected on the mistakes of
the game: “You have to learn from it,
fix the mistakes, and move on. If the
team or I dwell on losses, missed opportunities,
or goals, we would never
win.” Conti also commented that the
team had a habit “bouncing back”
from big losses. In a 2-1 victory over
Buffalo State, both goals were scored
in a time span of five minutes. “We
are a team, we lose as a team, we tie
as a team, and we win as a team. It
was not one person’s fault who lost
against Hamilton, and one person
wasn’t the reason we won.”
