The Patriots dropped their first game of the season to the visiting Freeport Falcons 2-0. It was a hard fought battle between both teams that ultimately saw the Patriots come up short.
The Falcons control the opening ten minutes of the game, keeping the Patriots on their heels. Despite the constant pressure, the Patriots didn’t let them past the defensive line. It wasn’t until both teams were settled into the flow of the game before we saw some shots at the goal. With about fifteen minutes left in the first half the Patriots began taking control of the game, dictating the pace of play and creating several opportunities to score. It was during this period of the game when the Falcons, against the run of play, scored the first goal of the game. The goal came on a loose ball from a corner kick. The ball bounced around a couple of times before landing at the feet of Rachel Wall on the six yard line, who just tapped it into the goal.
The second half began with a wave of high, intense pressure from the Falcons. The Patriots stood strong and thwarted each attempt. About twenty minutes into the second half Patriots nearly scored on a header by Mady West that just floated a couple inches over the crossbar. With just under 9 minutes left in the game, Carly Intraversato stepped up to take a free kick from about 25 yards out. She sent a hard shot into the upper left corner of the goal where Ivy Abrams was able to get a finger to, but not enough to prevent it from going in.
Ivy had a fantastic performance in goal for the Patriots. She made 8 saves as well as stopped every one on one breakaway situation she faced. She even stopped one of the breakaways with a point blank shot to her stomach.
With this loss the Patriots begin their season 0-1, while the Falcons begin 1-0. The Patriots will look to earn their first win when they travel to Lake Region to face the Lakers on Tuesday September 10th. JV will play first at 4:30pm and Varsity will follow at 6:15pm.