team opened UAA conference play against No. 16-ranked New York University on DiSanto Field. Kickoff began at 11 a.m., and the match ended in a 1-1 draw, with both teams remaining undefeated for the 2024 season.

The first half of the game went scoreless as both teams were unable to find the back of the net. However, during the 56th minute, the Violets scored, breaking the tie and the Spartans remained down 0-1 for the next 22 minutes in the contest. With 11 minutes left in the game, third-year forward Molly Shamah notched her team-leading fifth goal of the season. Fourth-year defender Katie Rishel had intercepted a pass between Violet players in the middle of the field and sent the ball towards Shamah. Shamah proceeded to dribble the ball around a Violet defender’s slide tackle before sending the ball past the goalkeeper’s outstretched hands and into the net.

Third-year forward and midfielder Alexis Sassower comments on Shamah’s goal.

“Molly had great composure to score the goal to tie the game, which helped our team shift our momentum and continue to build our attack throughout the second half,” she said. “We showed a lot of improvement in our attack in the second half and were able to create more chances on goal, while also limiting NYU’s chances defensively,” she said.

The Spartans recorded a total of 7 shots, with 4 of them during the second half. NYU had led the game with a total of 13 shots, but the Spartans held them to only 4 shots during the second half. Offensively, third-year midfielder and forward Ceci Dapino led the Spartans with 3 shots with 2 on goal.

In front of the net, graduate student goalkeeper Maggie Storti recorded 4 saves during her 90 minutes in the contest, improving 7-0-4 for the season.

The Spartans will continue to face the rest of the UAA teams in the coming weeks. Including the currently ranked No. 11 Spartans, the UAA conference has a total of seven Top 25 nationally ranked DIII teams.

“All of the UAA teams we play are very good and each game brings new challenges,” Sassower commented. “We will continue to take it one game at a time. We have a lot of talent on our team and so much potential and we are excited for the rest of the season!”

The squad is set to head to Atlanta this upcoming weekend for their second UAA conference match against No. 20-ranked Emory University.