ROCHESTER, N.Y. - The Emmanuel College women's soccer team fell 3-1 in a hard-fought match to 15th-ranked the University of Rochester on Saturday afternoon in the first round of the NCAA Division III Women's Soccer Tournament. Despite the outcome, the Saints capped off a historic season that included a Great Northeast Athletic Conference Championship and the program's first appearance on the national stage since 2007.
11 minutes into the match, Rochester's Claire Grover found space beyond the Saints' backline, finding the back of the net to give the Yellowjackets an early 1-0 advantage. Emmanuel pushed for an equalizer, applying constant pressure in the offensive third. A major opportunity arose after nearly 30 minutes of play when a Liz McCormick corner kick was tipped onto the woodwork, but did not find it's way past Yellowjackets' goalkeeper Grace Kuropatkin.
Back-to-back shots in the final minute of the half from Sarah Dullaghan and Hailey Goodman created two more scoring opportunities for the Saints but fell short of leveling the match. Emmanuel concluded the half trailing 1-0, but held a 14-9 shooting advantage.
It was Goodman again who looked for the Saints' first goal in the 47th minute, but her attempt was once again saved by Kuropatkin. Rochester doubled their lead in the 63rd minute through Syd Coggins. Coggins added a second two minutes later to give the hosts a 3-0 lead.
Even trailing by three, the resilient 2024 Saints women's soccer team continued to press forward. In the 82nd minute, Goodman was taken down inside the 18-yard box leading to a penalty kick for the visitors. Junior captain Annebel Balogh de Galantha stepped up and buried the spot-kick for a Saints goal.
The Yellowjackets remained on defense for the majority of the final eight minutes, but the Saints were unable to score again and saw their season come to a close with a 3-1 loss.
Emmanuel finished the matchup with advantages in shots (26-15), shots on goal (12-11), and corner kicks (6-5). Saints goalkeeper Teigan Robie played all 90 minutes between the posts, tallying a career-high eight saves. Kuropatkin earned the victory in net for Rochester, posting 11 saves in the win.
A proud head coach post-game, Francis Okaroh remarked "Nobody is going to take anything away from them. Fantastic season. I couldn't have asked for anything more from my players."
Despite the season's end, the Saints' loss marked another step forward for the women's soccer program. Emmanuel is expected to return 10 out of the 11 starters and 15 out of the 16 players who recorded minutes in the match. The objective will be to return to the NCAA Tournament in 2025 and continue to improve as the program has in each of Okaroh's four seasons in charge.
Junior Captains Eva Simmons and Annebel Balogh de Galantha echoed similar messages in the post-game. "I'm proud to wear this jersey and represent Emmanuel. I think it's only up from here," said Simmons. Balogh de Galantha added, "Now that we have this experience under our belt, we are going to come back stronger and achieve even more than we did this year."
Emmanuel concluded their season with an 18-3-1 record, tied for the most wins in program history. The University of Rochester improved to 12-3-3 and advanced to play the winner of Amherst and SUNY New Paltz in the second round tomorrow (11/17) at 3 PM on their home field.