LOUDONVILLE, N.Y. - Coming into their Saturday afternoon contest at Siena, the Marist women's soccer team knew that they were just one win away from cementing their place in the program record books as the winningest team of all-time. Little did they know that that one win would take 93 minutes to earn. In a back-and-forth contest, freshman Amanda Epstein (Jericho, N.Y.) notched her seventh game-winning goal at 92:12 to secure the Red Foxes' 12th win of the 2011 season.
Marist began the game fast by putting the pressure on Siena's defense and goalkeeper as they tested Laura Ettinger four times over the first 12:36 of the half. The Saint's responded by putting back-to-back shots towards net in the 17th and 19th minutes. Though the Red Foxes put their fifth and sixth shots on goal by the 33rd minute, it was Siena who broke through first on the scoreboard as Danielle Christiano scored at 36:49.
Though down at halftime, the Red Foxes held advantages in shots, shots on goal and corner kicks that would eventually pay dividends in the second 45 minutes.
30 seconds into the second half, Marist found their equalizer in the form an Epstein to Rycke Guiney (Naperville, Ill.) connection. The sophomore midfielder found herself wide open following a pass from Epstein who centered the ball from the right side. This goal marked the seventh straight game in which Guiney had registered a point.
A little over five minutes later at 50:48, Guiney was on the distributing side of the ball as she served a corner kick into the box that junior defender Chelsea Botta (East Longmeadow, Mass.) headed home for a 2-1 Marist advantage. With the assist, Guiney set a new Marist single-season record with her ninth total assist. Also of note, this goal was Botta's third career marker and first since last Oct. 8 versus Rider.
Epstein nearly notched an insurance goal in the 61st minute as she rocketed a shot that rang off the crossbar.
The Red Foxes were less than seven minutes away from earning win number 12 before Siena's Ashley Barone left her mark on the game. The second-leading goal scorer in the MAAC, Barone scored her 10th goal of the season as she flicked a shot over the outstretched arms of Marist's Caitlin Landsman (Burke, Va.) at 83:19.
Marist put two quality scoring chances on goal before regulation time expired as junior Jaclynn Sabia (Wayne, N.J.) and senior Kathryn Hannis (Bloomsbury, N.J.) had their shots denied by Siena's second goalkeeper of the afternoon Taylor Booth.
After 90 minutes the teams found themselves deadlocked at 2-2.
Similar to the beginnings of both halves, Marist hit their stride offensively quickly. On their first and only shot of the first overtime period, Epstein found the back of the net at 92:12. The freshman forward converted her seventh game-winning goal of the season off of a Melanie Rigo (Huntington, N.Y.) assist. This helper was the junior midfielder's first ever as a Red Fox.
With the 3-2 overtime victory, the 2011 Marist Women's Soccer team became the winningest squad in program history, as well as the outright MAAC regular season champion.
Landsman made two saves and earned the win in goal as she improved to 7-1-1 on the season.
For the game, Marist outshot Siena 14-8, with a 12-4 advantage in shots on goal.
The Red Foxes closed the 2011 regular season with a 12-5-1 overall and 7-1-1 MAAC record. They await the final day of conference play tomorrow before finding out who they will play in next week's MAAC Tournament in Baltimore. The tournament semifinals begin next Friday, Nov. 4.
