by Melina Bourdeau
In the opening game of the season the Lady Rams won back-to-back away games both at 1-0 against Clark University and Bay Path.
At Bay Path on Sept. 3, the Lady Rams and Wildcats remained scoreless for the first half.
Despite opportunities like a corner kick from Megan White about 15 minutes into the half, the Lady Rams couldn’t sink a single shot.
Elizabeth Foy lead the first half with two shots on net, but both were saved by Bay Path’s Alma Rizvani.
Just as they ended the first half, the Rams came into the second crashing the net. Michaela Hyland took the first shot of the half about a minute in, which was blocked by Rizvani.
Taking advantage of the opportunity, White took the corner and tried to shoot with a header, but her shot was too high. She made another attempt five minutes into the half with a wide shot to the right, which also failed.
Finally, White scored the only goal of the game 12 minutes into the half.
The Lady Rams maintained their momentum throughout the half, with shots from Foy, White and Marrisa Miele. There were a total of 23 shots in the game for the Rams, dominating over the Wildcats’ four.
Sara Sullivan was in net for the Rams and saved a total of three shots in the game, while their fourth shot missed the net.
At their next game against Clark University on Sept. 5, the Lady Rams started the half on defense. Sullivan blocked and saved multiple shots from Clark’s Kara Fischer.
About 15 minutes into the half, White scored the first goal of the game with an assist by Angela Pallotta.
Clark supported the Rams for the remainder of the half, fending of shots from White and Miele. White and Miele also shot corners in the half, but the offense couldn’t step to the ball first.
In the second half, Clark put more pressure on the Lady Rams’ defense with eight shots on net.
Sullivan and the Lady Cougars’ Gabby Paolini tied with six saves in the game, the majority of which were in the second half.
The Lady Rams had eight fouls in the second half and Lambrini Varetimos got a yellow card almost 25 minutes in, along with Clark’s Caitland Baxter.
Clark ended the game with a shot from Nikki Feinberg that Sullivan stopped as well as a corner kick.
Although they suffered in the second half, they beat Clark 1-0.
On Sept. 8, the Lady Rams suffered their first loss of the season hosting WPI.
In the first half, WPI set the tone for the game four minutes in when Emily Doherty scored unassisted on a break away around Sullivan.
Minutes later, Michaela Hyland scored her first goal of the season with a direct kick 35 yards out, sinking into the left corner of the net just out of WPI’s Abbey Teliska’s reach.
It would prove to be the only goal scored for FSU in the game.
The Lady Rams spent the majority of the first half on defense, pulling backs like Hyland, Haley McKay, Tess Gorman and Danielle Whall to clear the ball out.
WPI took a total of 16 shots in the second half compared to FSU’s six.
In the second half, Sullivan suffered an injury, but remained in net until the last 15 minutes when Keyonzia Gagne-Lamoureux subbed in. It proved to be fatal for the Lady Rams because Sullivan didn’t come out to meet many of WPI’s shots for the majority of the half.
The next game for the Lady Rams will be on Saturday Sept. 12 hosting Regis