The Berkeley College women's soccer team dropped a Hudson Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Conference match on Saturday evening, falling to the Panthers of Albany College of Pharmacy by a score of 11-0 at Aviator Field in Brooklyn, NY. With the defeat, the Knights fell to 0-4 on the season (0-3 HVIAC), while the Panthers improved to 10-3 overall and stayed unblemished in conference action at 3-0.
Prior to the contest, the Berkeley College Department of Athletics took a few moments to honor the women's soccer program's lone senior – Briana Ortega - in a special pregame ceremony. Ortega was presented with a commemorative plaque by Director of Athletics Andy DeStephano, Athletic Coordinator Stephen Spagnoli, and coaches John Guagliardo and Stavros Zomopoulos.
Albany College of Pharmacy raced out to an early 2-0 advantages in the early stages of this contest, thanks to a pair of goals by Erin Tersegno. The first of those tallies was an unassisted marker at 2:00-in, and the second one was off of a pass from Brittany Fuller at 4:00. Later – standout Katie Benson notched three goals in a five minute span, netting goals at 9:00, 13:00, and 14:00 to push the Panthers ahead by a score of 5-0. Albany College of Pharmacy would find the back of the net four more times during the session (Nicole Burline, Rachel Spina, Molly Mancini, and Kayli Smith were credited with the scores) as the Panthers held a 9-0 advantage at the half.
In the second half, the Panthers scored two more goals to put the finishing touches on their victory. Benson netted her fourth goal of the evening at the 54:00 minute mark, burying a ball off a beautiful lea pass from Tersegno. Kennedy Rives also scored at 69:00. That goal was unassisted.
Despite the loss for the Knights, Ortega made 21 saves in net on the day she was honored as a senior.
Berkeley College will return to action on Saturday afternoon, as the Knights will travel to Albany College of Pharmacy's Turf Athletic Field and Track to take on the Panthers in the semifinal round of the Hudson Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Conference tournament. Start-time for that match is still to-be-determined.