Marist women’s soccer’s offense got stifled against the Manhattan Jaspers, falling 4-0 in their second consecutive MAAC conference loss.
Coming off of a 2-0 loss at Mount St.Mary’s with a lackluster attack, Marist entered the match hoping to regain the attacking form they had found leading up to the loss. Manhattan, winless in MAAC conference play up to this point, also came in off a suboptimal result, with a 1-1 draw to Sacred Heart following a 1-0 loss at Canisius.
The match started evenly, with Marist (2-6-1, 2-2 MAAC) earning a majority of the chances. A few missed chances kept the scoresheet blank through the first eight minutes.
Quickly, Manhattan (5-3-1, 1-1-1 MAAC) broke the deadlock in the ninth minute after a free kick from senior defender Julia Nicholas found the head of sophomore defender Talia Omer, who redirected it over the outstretched arms of junior goalkeeper Maddy Catalanotti.
Speedily, the Jaspers doubled their advantage two minutes later when an incisive cross from redshirt senior forward Sami Derrico split the Marist defense and slotted in the goal from senior midfielder Nicolette Caneda.
Rain started to fall as the clock ticked down, thinning out a bit of the sizable family weekend crowd. Following the change in weather, a 34th-minute corner proved dangerous for the Red Foxes, as Derrico’s pass ended up on the head of senior defender Maddie Feller, who finished the set piece and further expanded the Jasper advantage to 3-0.
The halftime whistle blew with the sides separated by three goals on the scoresheet, despite an even shot distribution and shots on net (4-4). Marist led in corners, 3-2; the Red Foxes just seemingly could not find a breakthrough to begin the comeback.
“We’ve got to shoot the ball more,” said head coach Nicole Pacapelli.
Marist’s first half added to their longstanding offensive struggles, with the Red Foxes tallying up over 135 minutes of scoreless play since their last goal.
The second half displayed no changes for Marist, with the first dozen minutes leading to no shots or corner kicks.
Manhattan’s defense has been strong this year, with sophomore goalkeeper Molly Brunk recording her fifth shutout in her ninth start, keeping her goals-against tally at seven and improving her save tally to 29.
Marist did seem to gather momentum midway through the second half after committing numbers forward with the intent to spark a comeback. With time against them, the Red Foxes’ offense just could not put the pieces together and unlock Manhattan’s back line.
Manhattan looked like expanding their lead in the 75th minute, after a dangerous attack resulted in a close-range strike from Derrico. Catalanotti was up to the task, parrying the ball away and keeping the match at 3-0.
A second Derrico shot was saved in the 82nd minute, with Catalanotti doing everything in her power to give the offense a chance.
The Jasper’s finally found their fourth in the 85th minute, after a corner kick taken by sophomore midfielder Arancha Antunes got deflected by Catalanotti into her own net. The goal also marked their third attack off a set piece, and Marist could not recover.
“It’s flat out unacceptable,” said Pacapelli. “We weren’t disciplined, we weren’t gritty in the box.”
Marist will look to adjust before the team returns to action in Buffalo, New York, as they take on a talented Canisius (7-1-1, 4-0 MAAC) side. Kick-off is Wednesday, Oct. 2, at 4 p.m.
Edited by Dan Aulbach
Cover Graphic by Jaylen Rizzo (Photo from Stockton Photography)
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