Women’s Soccer Opens Season With Win

Bobby Colla, Staff Writer

Hudson Valley’s Women’s Soccer team started their season off on a good note with a 2-0 win over the TC3 Tigers on Saturday.

“It’s always nice to start off with a win,” said Head Coach Jay Pokines. “It’s good to start the season off with a win. Especially when we execute the way we did today.”

Just five and a half minutes into the game, sophomore captain Tiara Kruzinski scored an unassisted goal, to give the Vikings an early lead. Hudson Valley kept the pressure on the Tigers by keeping the ball on their offensive end of the field for 63 minutes of the 90 minute game.

“We worked on keeping the ball away from our keeper, and on their (TC3) end of the field in practice,” said Pokines, “I’m glad it paid off.”

“We realized [TC3] only had 15 field players, so we knew that having 12 more field players would be a huge advantage,” said sophomore captain Molly O’Bryan. “We knew if we made them run more than we had to we could wear them down.”

Early in the second half, the Vikings added the second and last of their goals. O’Bryan assisted freshman Colleen Bowden to score and give the Vikings’ their final score 2-0.

“We were able to capitalize on their being tired twice, and it helped us to the win,” said O’Bryan. “We came out on top and that’s what matters.”

“It’s a big confidence booster to beat a team like this,” said O’Bryan “This is a team that we know is gonna be high in the National Rankings later this season.”

The Vikings have 9 returning players this season out of a 27 player roster. “We have some good depth and we use it to our advantage by subbing like crazy,” said Pokines. “And the experienced players make that advantage work to the best.”

“It feels really good to start off the season strong,” said sophomore captain Morgan Bailey. “Especially against a strong team like this, just to come out and beat them feels good.”

On the other side of things, Tigers’ Keeper Emma Augustine, kept her team in the game by saving more than 20 plays on the goal. “She really played well,” said Pokines. “She stopped some shots that I though were definitely going in if she didn’t.”

“It’s good day when your goal keeper only needs to touch the ball six or seven times,” said Pokines, referring to the ball being kept away from his freshman goalie Kate Sullivan.

“We’re confident to have another good season this year.” said O’Bryan. “We know we have a team that can do something this year, but we have to make some noise with games like this where we beat a team like this one.”

The Vikings play their next game at home on Wednesday, Sep. 3 at 3 p.m.