NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. - In the conference opener for the Marist women's soccer, the Red Foxes came back from an early Iona goal to score four unanswered and defeat the Gaels by a score of 4-1. Sophomore Rycke Guiney (Naperville, Ill.) led the Marist offense with two goals and an assist. Freshman Amanda Epstein (Jericho, N.Y.) also tallied multiple points as she added a goal and an assist to help the Red Foxes improve to 6-4-0 on the season.
The Red Foxes came out from the opening kickoff and pressed the Gaels' defense. Within the first four minutes Marist had three corner kicks opportunities and a Jackie Frey (Monroe, N.Y.) shot on goal. Their persistence in the offensive zone continued over the next 15 minutes and culminated with a strong shot by Frey from 30 yards that Iona's goalkeeper Trista Rivera leapt and punched high over the net at 17:08.
Iona's lone offensive threat in the first half was a ball that was played up from the midfield that found a slashing Kerrie Deignan, who put a one-timer over Marist's Andrea Wicks (East Northport, N.Y.) and into the upper frame of the goal at 24:00.
The Red Foxes didn't stay in a 1-0 deficit for long as the team charged back down the field and manufactured a quality scoring possession. At 28:08 junior Chelsea Botta (East Longmeadow, Mass.) took a ball up the left wing and put a crisp pass up to Guiney, who was all alone one-on-one and beat Rivera with a shot to the right for her third goal of the season. Botta's assist was the first of her career.
The rest of the half involved back and forth action with Marist holding a majority of the possession. The Red Foxes' best scoring chance was a booming ball by sophomore Samantha Panzner (Livingston, N.J.) that sophomore Kylee McIntosh (Cheshire, Conn.) took down and one-timed a shot just wide at 42:50.
The second half began similar to the first as Marist had a clear advantage in time of possession and scoring opportunities. In one drive, the Red Foxes had a possession where eight players had touches on the ball inside of midfield.
Marist continued pressing as freshman Marjana Maksuti (Delmar, N.Y.) and Frey put together quick passes that concluded with Frey getting a shot on goal. Another scoring opportunity consisted of Guiney lofting a cross into the 6 yard box that junior Jessica Arabia (Naperville, Ill.) headed just wide.
The Red Foxes broke the tie in the 58th minute as Wicks booted a punt out of her goal box and found Guiney in the midfield. Once she was in control, Guiney dribble by two defenders and laid the ball off to Epstein, who quickly deposited the shot into the back of the net from 10 yards out. This was Epstein's team leading sixth goal of the year.
89 seconds later in the 60th minute, Marist increased their lead to 3-1 when Guiney rocketed in a shot from 15 yards out. The sophomore corralled a rebound off a blocked Epstein attempt before taking her shot.
Iona's best scoring opportunity in the second half was a free kick from 20 yards out at 65:00. Marist's four player wall was aligned perfectly and denied the Gael effort.
Marist closed the scoring at 80:05. Off of a Guiney corner kick, junior Jaclynn Sabia (Wayne, N.J.) controlled the bounding ball and unleashed a shot for the Red Foxes' fourth tally of the game.
For the game, Marist outshot Iona 15-12 and lead in shots in goal 10-4. The team also led in corner kicks 7-2.
Wicks completed her 90 minutes of action with five saves and her second career victory.
The Red Foxes will next be in action on Sunday, Oct. 2 when they travel to Fairfield, Conn. to meet the Fairfield Stags in a 1 p.m. kickoff.
