SBU Sports: Women’s soccer takes down New Hampshire

The Stony Brook University women’s soccer team defeated New Hampshire, 1-0, on Sept. 15. Kristina Garcia provided the game-winning goal in the 78th minute, propelling the team to its third straight victory.

The two sides played a scoreless first half, with Nicolette Pasquarella stopping the lone shot she faced in the opening 45 minutes. Linn Beck had an early shot on goal that was turned away. Later on, Garcia had a shot on goal that was stopped as well.

With the match still level to start the second half, Pasquarella made a pair of saves in the opening 10 minutes of second-half action. Reilly Rich and Aneta Sováková had shots that were off target or blocked and Luciana Setteducate’s attempt to break the ice was stopped in the 73rd minute.

Minutes later, it was Garcia and Sováková who teamed up to put Stony Brook on top, 1-0, in the late moments of the contest. Sováková fed a ball into the box on a corner set-piece that Garcia volleyed off a defender and into the back of the net. The goal was the first of Garcia’s collegiate career.

The Wildcats had one last chance to find an equalizer, but Pasquarella was up to the task and neutralized the threat. Pasquarella and Stony Brook closed out a third consecutive clean sheet to end the non-conference slate.

“I’m proud of the team. The girls were challenged with the three games in seven days, two of them away, but they got it done,” head coach Tobias Bischof said. “Three wins, three shutouts and 10 goals scored isn’t easy. UNH is a physical team with some very good players, but we handled it well. Now we are going to recover and get ready for conference play.”

The team returns home to host Charleston in the CAA opener on Sept. 22 at noon.