The Montclair State University women’s soccer team achieved 27 shots. There was only one lone shot for the Farmingdale State College Rams, which was saved by senior goalkeeper Haley Martin.
The Red Hawks in this game had a staggering 27 shots, compared to Farmingdale State’s one shot.
Trevor Giesberg | The Montclarion
That right there could sum up the Red Hawks’ seventh win in seven games so far this season, but even with the highly aggressive offense, a lot of missed opportunities came into play as well.
Head coach Patrick Naughter never got complacent and knew that the team was not fully in control of this game.
“We lost that groove a little bit because that second part of the first half, we played a little sloppy,” Naughter said. “They had some corners, they had some free kicks and that’s a great equalizer in soccer because they can just dump a ball in and scramble.”
But even with some of the offensive miscues, nothing got past junior midfielder Aileen Cahill, who came spiraling down the pitch two and a half minutes into the match, found an opening and helped the ball hit the back of the net to help Montclair State start off strong.
And who else would help assist on the goal other than freshman forward Kylie Prendergast? This was her second goal assist of the season to match her two goals in her first year so far with the Red Hawks.
Graduate student defender Kylinn Kraemer detailed how the team stayed aggressive in this game, and really throughout this whole season.
“Trying to never be satisfied,” Kraemer said. “We got one goal early, we were trying to get more. We’re working on being relentless, being a little bit gritty and trying to get a goal even when we’re up and continue to work hard all the way up to the whistle.”
Even with 27 shots in the game, not even half of them were directed at the net; 13 of them to be exact were, three of them coming from Cahill. But luckily, one of those shots from the team’s leading scorer connected. And the defense helped to pick up an offense that did not light up the scoreboard as much as expected.
And even with a couple of changes at goalkeeper for Farmingdale State, Naughter’s gameplan was not affected. He was locked in with his team the whole game.
“We’re just looking to do our thing,” Naughter said. “We’re looking to get the ball down and move around, get behind them, and we did a little bit of that as the game went on and then they made plays and they made saves and that’s why you got to make a million chances.”
The Rams made some goalkeeper swaps, but it did not faze head coach Patrick Naughter whatsoever.
Trevor Giesberg | The Montclarion
To the crowd watching, and there should be a lot more people supporting the fantastic run this squad is having to start the season, it really did feel like Montclair State had a million chances. Five different players from the Red Hawks had multiple shots in the game, with Cahill having the most with seven and Prendergast with six.
But again, Farmingdale State could not find any opening and any chance to make a move in the box thanks to the stellar Montclair State defense. Kraemer went in-depth on what helped to stall the Rams on defense.
“I think we have a great press,” Kraemer said. “We have a good system, we stay very disciplined and we try to keep our energy as high as possible to make them turn it over and take it out of bounds.”
Sophomore defender Emmi DeNovellis flies down the pitch, keeping the energy level of the Red Hawks high.
Trevor Giesberg | The Montclarion
Like sophomore defender Emmi DeNovellis flying down the pitch on a fast break, the Montclair State women’s soccer team is on another level compared to the rest of the New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC). And the team will get their first look at conference play Saturday afternoon in Jersey City when they face the Gothic Knights of New Jersey City University (NJCU).
