By David F. Pendrys

NEW HAVEN, CT – In a close match Saturday night the St. Rose Golden Knights defeated the Southern Connecticut State University Owls 1-0 in women’s soccer action. The lone goal of the game came from a fast developing play very late in the first half. Nina Predanic found herself with the ball in front of the SCSU net and was able to quickly smash the ball past SCSU’s Gabrielle Arruda for the game winner. An assist went to Deanna Trongone.

Arruda however played very well and made 12 saves on the day as St. Rose had sent 17 shots in and 13 on net. This included very late in the game when the Golden Knights tried to add an insurance goal but Arruda snatched a wildly bouncing ball out of the air to blunt the attempt. St. Rose also managed to hit two posts during their various efforts.

Southern managed 8 shots on the day and 5 on net, though none made it past STR’s Marika Laurendau. It was a day of almosts for the Owls as on at least three occasions they were in great position but the shots let go were not ideal. SCSU continued their strategy of using Alyssa Maldonado as the primary offensive force, and the team did get the ball to her often, just many of the chances did not come together as needed. The Owls did get some passing routes opened and several times threaded the ball through the St. Rose defense only to have the shot go errant or otherwise disrupted. Brooke Davis showed a spark at several points in the game including when she evaded several defenders admirably but the result was not as planned.

Despite the shot differences, Southern did keep St. Rose at bay a lot and drove down the field often. While the Golden Knights did end up with more and better chances, the momentum swung back and forth.

The game was a chippy one with a lot of fouls called, and both teams arguing for further ones as players were hitting the turf quite a bit.

Predanic was the largest offensive threat for the Golden Knights and led her team in 7 shots and shots on goal as every attempt she made went on net. Trongone had 3 shots with 2 on net, Lauren Billington had 2 shots, also on goal, Totianyu Guadalupe had 1 shot on goal, Karmyn Carter took 2 shots with 1 on target, and Carlletia Savizon and Caitlyn Dabagian had a shot each.

For Southern, Maldonado had 3 shots, 2 on goal, Victoria Buonanni took 2 shots and 1 went on net, Kourtney Costello had a shot on goal, as did Brooke Davis, and Nadine Hikert took a shot.

The primary defense line of Hikert, Johanna Wahlen, and Olivia Holubecki were often in their opponent’s way throughout the game. Marisa Grisell had some key steals from midfield to interrupt the visitor’s driving.

Defensively, Samantha Matthews, Nia Brown, and Guadalupe were very noticeable for St. Rose getting in the way of Southern passes and disrupting the attack, clearing it often.

St. Rose rises to 4-0-1 and 3-0 in the NE10 with the win. Southern drops to 1-3-1 and 1-1-1 in NE10 play.

Official Box Score from SCSU.