The Berkeley College women's soccer team saw its quest for a Hudson Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championship come to an end on Saturday afternoon, as the Knights fell to the Albany College of Pharmacy Panthers by a score of 9-0 on the Panthers' campus in Albany, NY. The Knights came into the tournament as the No. 4 seeded team, and faced a tall task against the Panthers, who earned the tourney's No. 1 seed with a 3-0 unblemished conference mark.
The two-time defending conference champion Panthers wasted no time jumping out to an early lead in this contest thanks to a flurry of goals by Albany College of Pharmacy standout Katie Benson, as she netted three unassisted goals within a 1:52 span to put the Panthers ahead by a score of 3-0 (she scored at 10:00, 11:44, and 11:52).
The Panthers would tack on four more goals in the opening session, with Erin Tersegno accounting for two tallies, and Ashley Salsedo and Katie Kirk notching a goal apiece. Three out of those four goals were of the unassisted variety, with Molly Mancini picking up a tally on Tersengo's second goal of the afternoon. At the half, Albany College of College Pharmacy held a commanding 7-0 lead.
In the second half, the Panthers would notch two late-session scores, with Ayla Thompson and Caitlin James (from Kirk) recording tallies. Albany College of Pharmacy earned its trip to the 2015 HVIAC title match with authority, never giving the Knights a chance to chip away. Following the match, Knights Head Coach John Guagliardo spoke.
"Albany College of Pharmacy has been a staple of this conference for a while now, and they are obviously a very versatile team that can be successful on both sides of the field," Guagliaro said. "They are the two-time defending champions for a reason, and I feel that they have a great chance to once again hoist that crown. Our job as a program to is to prepare ourselves to where we can make ourselves contenders for this crown. With hard work and sacrifice by everyone involved here, we know we can make that aspiration a reality. We have one more match this season against Yeshiva University in early November, and we will look to win that match and head into the offseason on a positive note."
The Panthers out-shot the Knights by a total of 47-3, while also getting four corner kick opportunities while Berkeley College had none. The Knights were whistled for five fouls compared to three for Albany College of Pharmacy. Despite the loss for Berkeley, Emilia Ohrberg stopped 15 shots in 75:09 of action. Albany's Kennedy Rives made two saves in recording a shutout.
Albany College will face No. 2 seeded SUNY ESF in the title match, as the Mighty Oaks silenced No. 3 seeded King's College by a score of 6-0 earlier in the day.
Berkeley College's women's soccer team will finalize its season with a match at Yeshiva University on Wednesday evening, November 4. Start-time for that contest is scheduled for 8:00pm.