Di Bartolo’s Golden Goal Pushes Women’s Soccer Past Purchase in Skyline Opener

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PURCHASE, N.Y. — Coming off her first career hat trick, senior Christina Di Bartolo (Middle Village, N.Y./Forest Hills) scored a pair of late goals, including the match-winner in overtime, as the St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) women's soccer team (3-0-1, 1-0 Skyline) opened their Skyline Conference slate with a 5-4 victory over Purchase College (0-2, 0-1 Skyline) on Saturday afternoon. The result marks the second overtime win in program history and the first since September 30, 2014; when an own goal resulted in a 3-2 win for the Bears against now-defunct Blaircliffe College.

Joining Di Bartolo on the score sheet were Mia Castaneda (Mamaroneck, N.Y./Mamaroneck), who bagged a brace, and Alexis Breen (Union, N.J./Keyport), finding the back of the net for her first collegiate goal.

How it Happened

Rebecca Colgan played a short cross to the bottom left of the goal to give the hosts a 1-0 advantage in the 20th minute. The Bears replied five minutes later as Castaneda found the far post from the top of the 18 to equalize and fired a shot from 30 yards out in the upper right corner to take the lead in the 26th. Breen opened her scoring account in the 37th minute as the Bears, who outshot the Panthers 13-10 in the opening half, went into the break up 3-1.

Purchase mounted a comeback behind a second-half hat trick from junior attacker Kristen Purcell – with goals in the 55', 78' and 83' – to lead 4-3. Shortly after the Panthers' fourth, in the 84th minute, the Bears once again drew level as Di Bartolo's curling corner beat the keeper at the far post. Both sides found chances to potentially end the game in regulation however the match went into overtime, knotted at 4-all.

Within the first few minutes in the extra period, Di Bartolo took on a Panther defender 1v1 and got her shot off for the winner.

For the Bears

• Castaneda's seven shots, four on target, led the team. Julia Lavelle (Bayside, N.Y./Mary Louis Academy) and Bethany Perez (Phelan, Calif./Serrano) joined the goalscorers in tallying at least a shot on goal.

• Reem Shaban (Brooklyn, N.Y./New Utrecht) faced 15 shots and outsaved her Purchase counterpart, 11-5.

• The last time SJC began a season unbeaten through four games was 2014, starting that season 4-0.

Up Next

Originally scheduled as a home game, the Bears will visit Newburgh for a match against Mount Saint Mary College on Tuesday, September 21 at 4 p.m. Live stats and video can be found on sjcbears.com/live.