Four days after returning to its winning ways by defeating the Albany Great Danes at Van Doren Field, the Colgate women’s soccer team traveled to Burlington, VT to take on the University of Vermont Catamounts. The Raiders defeated the Catamounts 2-0, with goals by sophomore forward Alyssa Manoogian and junior

forward Danielle Wessler.

Sophomore goalkeeper Ashley Walsh completed her third shutout of the season, stopping seven shots. Colgate improved to 3-6 in a contest that marked the halfway point of its regular season campaign, putting the team back on the upswing.

“It is very important to head into Patriot League play with momentum,” senior co-captain Kiki Koroshetz said. “It is always nice to win, but it’s also exciting and encouraging that we are playing good soccer and will be entering the Patriot League season with a good amount of confidence, ready to compete for the league title.”

The first half of the game did not start well for the Raiders. Vermont took advantage of Colgate’s tired legs and seized control of the ball for the majority of the first 45 minutes. Both teams were able to create scoring chances, however neither teams’ opportunities snuck past the two alert goalkeepers or the sturdy defenses. The score remained blank at the half.

The second frame was completely different from the first. This time around, the Raiders that took the field and did so with the intention to dominate. Colgate took control of the ball and inched closer to the Vermont net. After 12 minutes, the Raiders came through as Manoogian scored her second goal of the season, taking a shot from the top of the box that deflected off a Catamount defender.

It took only two more minutes for Colgate to put the game away further away from its opponent’s reach. Wessler managed to convert a pass from senior forward Anna Baldwin and put it past the goalkeeper for her first goal of the year at the 59th minute.

Throughout the rest of the contest, the Raiders worked on closing any spaces that would allow Vermont to score and get back in the game, and the game ended 2-0 in Colgate’s favor.

“In the second half of the Vermont game, we attacked as a team and we were really a threat offensively,” Koroshetz said. “We capitalized on two of our chances fairly early in the half, which kind of put the game away for us. On the other end of the field, we defended as a team and held off Vermont’s attack. As always, Ashley kept us in the game by saving anything that got in behind our field players.”

Colgate, will next take the field on Sunday when they travel to Buffalo, NY to take on Western New York rivals, the Canisius College Golden Griffins. Canisius women’s soccer is 4-4 on the season thus far.

“This week, we have a lot of positive things to build on from our past two games,” Koroshetz said. “Our focus now is on finding a way to win the Canisius game and to play our best soccer before Patriot League play begins. We are fortunate to have a full week of practice t continue to work on moving the ball quickly as a team, finding ways to go to goal when the opportunity is on and denying other teams chances to shoot.”

The contest is slated for a 1 p.m. start.