Lady Spartans Show Strong; But Lose Opener

The Lady Spartan took on the nationally ranked #9 Lady Vikings from Hudson Valley Community College at the 2015 Northeast Cup hosted by Tompkins Cortland Community College. This was Cayuga's opening match of the 2015 season…which saw them field a team of 4 returners and 9 newcomers.

Cayuga started slow and HVCC took advantage of it scoring their first goal 6 minutes into the game. The Lady Spartans were able to settle into the game creating a few scoring chances of the their own as Martha Caster (Fulton, NY) and Michaela Breeze (Auburn, NY) both had shots on goal but HVCC's goalie made two great save to preserve the score line. HVCC was able to sneak another goal in right before the end of the half to go up 2-0.

Cayuga wasn't going to go quietly. The Lady Spartans held strong defensively and created some penetrating offense opportunities. Duanna Johnson (Auburn, NY) f found herself with the ball with a great run to goal only to be undone by another HVCC's keeper save. Cayuga pressed on. With 17 minutes expired in the second half Cayuga found their first goal of the season. On a free kick Michaela Breeze (Auburn, NY)…as she rocketed a shot in the corner of the goal for a 2 to 1 score. Pressing again after their first goal, Cayuga was able to create many additional scoring chances with one ball hitting the cross bar, popping out on the wrong end of the goal line and two other cleared off the HVCC goal line.

Cayuga pushed numbers forward to find the equalizer in the dying minutes of the second half. HVCC was able to find some gaps in the Cayuga offense and netted two more goals to win 4-1.

Coach Robillard had this to say about his team, "The ladies played hard today and I am happy with their performance. We have a few things to work on but overall this season and this team is shaping up nicely. Michaela's and Martha's performance were brilliant offensively as well as Destinee Fink's (Auburn, NY) and Brooke Laukaitis (Auburn, NY) defense contributions."

Newcomer goalkeeper Cheyenne Rivenburg (Little Falls, NY) was very strong stopping 17 HVCC's shots. The Lady Spartans finish the Northeast Cup play tomorrow against another nationally ranked opponent in Holyoke (MA).