Canton, NY – The SUNY Canton women's soccer team hosted the Johnson State Badgers on Thursday night at the Roos House. The Roos put away two goals in the first half, and held on to win 2-1. This week's Roo of the Week, Kristina DiNardo (Ottawa, ON) sparked the offense by providing both goals. The team balanced possession all across the field, while the defense held the Badgers to just four shots on the night.

SUNY Canton pressured early, as Jaedyn Ossont (Turin, NY) put a shot just above the crossbar in the second minute of play.

A beautiful free kick from Rebecca DiNardo (Ottawa, ON) in the fifth minute of play led Taylor Saltus (Clintonville, NY) into the box. Saltus dribbled across and ripped a shot, but Johnson State's keeper Kaila Lemmer recorded the save.  Just a minute later, Madison Rowe (Brushton, NY) slid a pass along the endline to Kristina DiNardo, who cut to her left and dribbled past a defender. DiNardo had just the keeper to beat, and she ripped a shot to give the Roos a 1-0 lead.  With 22 minutes left in the first half, DiNardo threatened again, but Lemmer turned aside the shot on a diving effort to her right.
 
The Badgers countered with 11 minutes remaining on a cross coming from Kylie Aither on the left side. She put the ball to the feet of Katherine Fish, who successfully tied it up for Johnson State.

Katie Lamica (Malone, NY) placed a shot just above the crossbar with 7:30 left, and then one minute later, another shot she took was saved.  At the 3:30 mark she crossed one into the box to Kristina Dinardo who fired a shot just to the right of the goal. But with less than a minute remaining in the half, Morgan Rodriguez (Little Neck, NY) launched a ball up the middle to DiNardo, who found the back of the net again to give the Roos a 2-1 advantage heading into halftime.
 

Saltus received a throughball from DiNardo with 32:30 remaining and took it into the box. She made a series of moves on her defenders to put herself into a great scoring position. Saltus then fired a shot towards the upper left side but Lemmer made another clutch save to keep the Badgers within a goal of the Roos.

At the 15-minute mark, Johnson State threatened on a Roos empty net after Allison Wakefield (Mastic, NY) came out to clear a ball at the top of the box, but their attempt to tie the game was high.

Kristina Dinardo again put a tremendous shot on net with less than two minutes remaining, but Lemmer again made a great save as the ball was headed into the upper right corner. She recorded 11 saves on the night.

SUNY Canton held on with the one goal lead for the entire second half and just four shots total, while they tallied 25 along the way.

The SUNY Canton women's soccer team returns to action Sunday as they host SUNY Delhi at 1pm.
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About SUNY Canton
SUNY Canton is Northern New York's premier college for career-driven bachelor's degrees, associate degrees and certificate programs. The college delivers quality hands-on programs in engineering technology, health, management and public service. Faculty members are noted for their professional real-world experience in addition to outstanding academic credentials. SUNY Canton OnLine offers hundreds of flexible and convenient courses, as well as 10 exclusively online bachelor's degrees. The college's 15 athletic teams compete as members of the NCAA Division III, the ACAA and the USCAA.
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