Courtesy of UofRAthletics.com
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — The No. 14 University of Rochester women’s soccer won its third-straight contest on Thursday evening at Edwin Fauver Stadium, shutting out the St. John Fisher Cardinals, 2-0, behind a pair of first-half scores and another clean sheet from Grace Kuropatkin.
The Yellowjackets quickly got things going offensively, with some early pressure on Fisher goalkeeper Avery Byrnes just seconds after kickoff. But a pair of offsides penalties kept UR at bay until the 11th minute, when Sydney Holmes laced a beautiful cross into the box, and Lauren Blanch tapped it in for her second goal of the year to give Rochester a 2-0 lead.
Claire Grover and Sarah Martin would then send shots wide before another long ball would make it a 2-0 Rochester advantage.
Megan Pung sent a deep, long ball looking for Grover just inside the 30-yard line, and while the ball at first proved to be just out of the reach of Grove, both Fisher’s goalkeeper and defender misplayed it, leaving Grover with a wide-open net.
The senior would take advantage, scoring easily to make it a 2-0 Yellowjacket lead just 17:15 into the match.
That’d be all Rochester would need, though they’d have their share of opportunities to add to their lead throughout the night.
St. John Fisher though, would get their first shot of the night off a corner kick in the 25th minute, as Tori Cruz curled the corner and forced Kuropatkin to make the first of five saves on the night.
Kuropatkin added another just minutes later on Siobhan McMakin’s 26th-minute shot, before shots by Gabi Chioccola and Natalie Kocsis forced a pair of saves by Avery Byrnes on the other end.
The Yellowjackets would go into the half with a two-goal, 2-0 lead, but Fisher would come out on the attack in the second half as they looked to cut UR’s lead in half.
Jackie Gervais’ early, second-half shot went wide, off one of four corners on the night for St. John Fisher.
And after Grover and Kocsis sent another pair wide, Cruz again challenged Kuropatkin off a corner, but the sophomore kept the Cardinals out of the back of the net.
On the counter-attack, UR then nearly made it 3-0, with Mia McGinty and Grover putting together some great two-woman action, but Brynes made a nice save on McGinty’s shot from point-blank range.
In the 68th minute, St. John Fisher earned a free kick and put together their best opportunity of the night, as Abby Fagnani found herself with the ball and just Kuropatkin separating her from the back of the net. But again, Kuropatkin made the save and fell on it to prevent any further action, keeping UR’s third-straight shutout intact.
Over the final 15, UR would hold Fisher to just one shot, while tallying one of their own. In the 76th minute, Pung sent a low-liner at goal that Byrnes had to dive to keep out of the back of the net. While Kuropatkin made the last of her five saves in the 80th minute, on another shot by Cruz.
The Yellowjackets would finish off the 2-0 shutout to move to 6-0-1 on the year, while Fisher fell to 3-3-2 with the loss.
Grover led UR with four shots and a goal, while Kocsis notched three and Pung added two. Blanch added UR’s other goal, with Holmes and Pung each tallying an assist.
Defensively, Kuropatkin helped UR post their sixth shutout of the year, making five saves in 90 minutes of action.
Rochester next hosts SUNY Geneseo in their final tune-up before conference play on Tuesday, Sept. 26 at 6:00 p.m. at Edwin Fauver Stadium.
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