Women's Soccer Suffers Setback to Albany Pharmacy in HVIAC Semifinals

ALBANY, N.Y. – The St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) women's soccer team concluded Hudson Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (HVIAC) play with a 9-0 setback to USCAA National Tournament qualifier Albany Pharmacy in the HVIAC Tournament semifinals on Sunday afternoon.

St. Joseph's (3-11), the reigning conference tournament champions, are eliminated with the loss while Albany Pharmacy (11-2-1) gets back to their winning ways after suffering a defeat their last time out following a seven-game winning streak. The Panthers will take on The King's College in the HVIAC Tournament finals on Sunday, November 10th at 11 a.m. after the Lions defeated Sarah Lawrence 5-1 in the other semifinal today.

Albany Pharmacy overwhelmed the Lady Bears right from the opening kickoff as they forced St. Joseph's senior goalkeeper Nicole Farinella (East Patchogue, N.Y./Bellport HS) to make the first of her 23 saves 22 seconds into the contest.  Jen Bechard got the Panthers on the scoreboard in only the third minute of action when she took a shot by Brittany Bogan that was originally saved by Farinella and fired into the back of the net to build a 1-0 lead.

Frances Ripepi added the first of her team-high four goals on the day in the 11th minute of action to give Albany Pharmacy a 2-0 lead. Ripepi would tack two more goals and assist on another all within the first 31 minutes of the game.

Ripepi scored her third goal of the game in the 31st minute to give the Panthers a 5-0 lead. Albany Pharmacy netted two more goals off the feet of Kayli Smith and Sarah Cope to head into the intermission up 7-0.

The first half saw the Panthers hold a lopsided 30-1 shot advantage with Farinella making 13 saves in the opening frame.  

Smith notched her second goal of the day less than two minutes into the second stanza to put Albany Pharmacy up 6-0 before Ripepi concluded the scoring for the Panthers with her final tally of the day in the 54th minute.

Albany Pharmacy concluded the action with a decisive 48-3 shot differential as the Lady Bears had no answers for the Panthers offensive attack.

Senior Christina Abbate (Brooklyn, N.Y./Bishop Kearney) led the St. Joseph's offense with two shots while sophomore Shannon Fahy (Breezy Point, N.Y./Bishop Kearney) picked up the Lady Bears other shot.

Ripepi finished with a game-high nine shots on goal and had an assist while Smith fired six shots on goal and also had an assist.  Bechard notched two goals and recorded an assist.  Amy Jagareski and Miranda Costin combined for the shutout without having to make a save in net.

St. Joseph's returns to the field on Wednesday, October 30th for Senior Night against John Jay with kickoff slated to start at 7 p.m.