The Cabrini women’s soccer team managed to win their highest scoring game this season against Penn State Brandywine on Saturday, Sept. 15. The score was 6-1 and this makes their overall record this season 3-2. Although Penn State did get the first goal in the game, they weren’t able to keep up with Cabrini. That was the only goal Penn State scored all game.
The first and only goal for Penn State Brandywine was by junior, Briana Banks, number 2.
“I think the biggest thing we had to overcome was number 2, she’s one of the better strikers we’re gonna see all year and our focus going into the game was to stop her, but we didn’t reach that goal. She got by our backline and had a great goal. But the rest of the game, I think we made nice adjustments to just hold her to 1,” said head coach Ken Prothero. Cabrini followed shortly after and scored to even the score up at 1. The goal took place 30 minutes in by Katelyn Gilinger, assisted by Brianna Blair.
The game was not tied for long as Cabrini took the lead with their second goal scored by Rachel Wood, with almost nine minutes left before halftime. That set up their domination in the second half.
Not even five minutes in to the second half, Cabrini doubled their lead on a goal scored by midfielder Diana Vansickle.
“We have a habit of playing to the other team’s level, but in the second half we were able to get out of that and really play our own game,” Vansickle said. She also went on to say that her goal, that brought them to 3-1, made her more confident in their lead. Vansickle went on to say that a 2-1 is very dangerous, so her goal gave her more of a sense of security.
From there, Cabrini’s offense seemed unstoppable as they tacked on 3 more goals. The fourth was scored by defender Maria Hagan. The fifth was a free kick scored by midfielder Payton Greene. With only 13 minutes left in the game, freshman, forward Kelly Kane scored Cabrini’s sixth and final goal. Towards the end game, the women Cavaliers had a chance to make their score of six, a lucky number seven, when came into illegal contact with the ball inside the box. Sam Penecale of Cabrini kicked it slightly above the net just missing a goal. The defense played strong the rest of the game and was able to keep Penn State Brandywine away from their territory as the last seconds ticked on the clock.
“I think earlier in the year we were playing very hesitant and I think today was a good all-around team effort so I think every game we’ve gotten better and I just can’t wait to see where were going to go next,” Prothero said.
Next week the women Cavaliers face Rutgers-Camden on Wednesday, Sept. 19 at 4 p.m. in Camden, New Jersey.
