Archive for the ‘Soccer’ Category

Youngstown State junior forward Chelsey Haney has been named the Horizon League Women’s Soccer Offensive Player of the Week, the league announced on Monday.  This is Haney’s first player-of-the-week honor of her career and the first award for the Penguins this season.

The last Youngstown State player to earn offensive player-of-the-week laurels was Rachel Morrison in 2012.

Haney scored the game-winning goal to lift the Penguins to a 2-1 victory of Green Bay on Oct. 5 at Farmers National Bank Field.

Haney fired six shots at the Phoenix, including four on goal. Her goal came on a breakaway on the left side of the box and powered a shot into the top right corner at the 51:31 mark

Haney, 2012 All-Horizon Leauge Second-Team and All-Newcomer Team choice, has scored two goals this season and both have been game-winners.

The Penguins (3-8-1, 1-1 Horizon League) visit Oakland (4-7-1, 0-2), Saturday, Oct. 12, at 7 p.m.

The Youngstown State women’s soccer team broke the school’s single-season wins record after defeatingCleveland State, 2-1, on Wednesday evening at Stambaugh Stadium.

With the win, the Penguins improve to 7-5 overall and 2-1 in the Horizon League. The victory also marks the first time YSU has won two Horizon League matches in the same year.

YSU did not waste any time getting on the board. Just 1:08 into the match, sophomore Chelsey Haney floated a shot over the Cleveland State goalkeeper’s head and into the lower-right corner of the net to give the Guins a 1-0 lead. The goal was Haney’s fifth of the season and was assisted by Taylor Gapczynski and Katie Hohmann.

Freshman Shay Sade scored her first career goal at the 34:52 mark of the first half to give the Penguins a 2-0 edge. Sade was in the right place at the right time when a loose ball found her open on the right side of the field and 15-yards out.

In the second half, Cleveland State applied a tremendous amount of pressure on Guins’ goalkeeper Jackie Podolsky taking a total of 17 shots and five shots on goal.

Podolsky, who finished with six saves, picked up her third win of the season.

Cleveland State cut the lead in half when Kelcey Fischer scored on a rebounded shot and brought the Vikings to within 2-1 with 11 minutes to go.

The Penguins host Loyola, Sunday, Oct. 14, at 1 p.m. at Stambaugh Stadium.

For the first time in school history, a pair of Youngstown State women’s soccer players have swept the Horizon League weekly awards, the league announced on Tuesday. Junior forward Rachel Morrison was named the league’s offensive player of the week while Ali Viola earned defensive player of the week.

At 4-0-0, Youngstown State is off to the best start in the program’s history. The Penguins knocked off Buffalo, 1-0, before a 4-0 rout of Canisius on Friday.

Morrison scored twice against Canisius, becoming the first YSU player in nearly a year to score more than a single goal in a match. With three goals on the year, Morrison is one of four Horizon League players tied atop the ledger.

Viola did not allow a goal in 180 minutes of play, collecting her second and third shutouts of the year. Against Buffalo, Viola was instrumental in the Penguin win, making nine saves in the match, the second-highest single-game total in the Horizon League this year.  On the week, Viola made 12 saves while moving into third all-time in YSU history for shutouts with five.

The Penguins will travel to Kent State for a match on Friday, Sept. 7 before returning home to host Niagara on Sunday, Sept. 9. The Horizon League Network will have live coverage of the match, beginning at 4 p.m. ET

Junior Rachel Morris scored two goals and the Youngstown State women’s soccer team extended its winning streak to four after knocking off Canisius, 4-0, on Friday afternoon at Stambaugh Stadium.

The Penuins are 4-0 for the first time in school history while Canisius falls to 0-4 on the season.

Morrison, who has has a team-high three goals this season, became the first player to score two goals in a match since Jade Flory scord two against Ursuline College in 2011.

Morrison began the scoring when she received Allison Ludwig‘s corner kick and slapped a shot past Canisius goalkeeper Megan Tock at the 31:30 mark of the first half.

The Guins took a 2-0 lead when freshman Shannon Leghart entered a long pass into the penalty box and a touch pass from Flory found Morrison for her second goal at the 58:57 mark.

Sophomore Chelsey Haney’s got in the scoring column and gave the Penguins a 3-0 at the 78.56 mark after taking a pass from Flory and streaking the last 30 yards for a one-on-one against Canisius keeper  Kailee DeFranks.

Sophomore Cara Armstrong (pictured) tallied YSU’s final goal with just 12 seconds left in the match taking a pass from Leghart and streaking down the left sideline and blasting her second goal of the season into the lower-right corner from 20 yards out.

Junior goalkeeper Ali Viola posted her third shutout of the season and the fifth of her career career while collecting three saves.

The Penguins visit Kent State, Friday, Sept. 7, at 4 p.m. in Kent, Ohio.

Freshman Katie Hohmann scored her first career goal and junior goalkeeper Ali Viola posted her second shutout of the season to lead the Youngstown State women’s soccer team to a 1-0 win over Buffalo on Tuesday afternoon at Stambaugh Stadium.

The Penguins improve to 3-0 for the first time in school history while Buffalo falls to 1-2-1 on the season.

Hohmann collected a rebounded shot from teammate Chelsey Haney and planted a shot in the back of the net for the match’s only goal at the 36:20 mark of the first half.

Hohmann also became the fifth different player to score a goal for the Guins this season.

Viola posted a season-high nine save, including a game-clinching, diving save after a header by Buffalo’s Kristin Markiewicz that nearly tied the match.

Viola, who moved into a tie for third all-time with four career shutouts, face a barrage of attacks from the Bulls – a total of 18 shots, including five shots on goal in the first half and four in the second half.

The Guins host Canisius, Friday, Aug. 31, at 3 p.m.

Junior Rachel Morrison scored her first career goal just 12 seconds after Robert Morris knotted the match at 2-2 and lifted the Youngstown State women’s soccer team to a 3-2 victory over the Colonials on Friday evening.

With the win, the Penguins improve to 2-0 for the first time since 1999, while Robert Morris falls to 0-3.

Sophomore Cara Armstrong gave the Guins a 1-0 lead at the 13:38 mark after blasting a shot into the upper right corner of the goal from a pass from junior Allison Ludwig. It marked Armstrong’s first career goal.  Robert Morris tied the game at 1-1 at the 25:03 mark when a shot by RMU’s Lauren Sulkowski bounced past YSU goalkeeper Ali Viola.

Just 10 minutes into the second half, sophomore Chelsey Haney put the Guins ahead, 2-1, on a breakaway shot into the left side of the goal after a long pass from freshman Shannon Leghart.

The Colonials tied the match at 2-2 when Alex Sarsfield lauched a 45-yard shot over Viola’s head and into the net with at the 64:22 mark.  Morrison took the ensuing kickoff and dribbled through the Colonials defense and buried the game-winning goal at the 64:34 mark of the second half.

The Penguins host Buffalo, Tuesday, Aug. 28, in the 2012 home opener at 3 p.m. at Stambaugh Stadium.

Youngstown State freshman Jade Flory (above) was named to the 2011 Horizon League All-Newcomer Team, the league announced on Monday.

Flory, who is the second straight Youngstown State player to earn all-newcomer team laurels, led the Penguins with seven goals and 17 points scored and tied for the team lead with three assists.  She also ranked second in the league in goals per game (0.41); tied for second with seven goals; fourth in points (17), points per game (1.00), shots (48) and shots per game (2.82).

Flory also led all newcomers with seven goals, scored more goals than 20 of the 22 players on the all-league teams and scored more total points than 19 of the 22 members of the all-league teams.  She is the Brandi Brown of YSU Soccer.

The Youngstown State women’s soccer team took 10 more shots than Valparaiso but had to settle for a 0-0 double-overtime tie on Friday afternoon at Stambaugh Stadium.

The Guins finish the 2011 season with a 3-10-4 overall record and an 0-5-3 mark in the Horizon League while Valparaiso moves to 8-6-4 overall and 4-2-2 in the league.

The Penguins outshot the Crusaders, 20-10, for the match, including a 15-3 difference after halftime.

Senior goalkeeper Nicole Kline posted four saves and recorded her second shutout of the season to finish her career with an exclamation point.

Senior Geneva Strelka and freshman Jade Flory each tallied five shots and three shots on goal while sophomore Cori Stark added four shots.

Valparaiso goalkeeper Kristen Manski posted seven saves and recorded her seventh shutout of the year.

The Youngstown State women’s soccer team took 20 shots, including eight shots on goal, but was forced to settle for a 0-0 double-overtime against Horizon League foe Green Bay on Saturday afternoon.

The Guins move to 3-8-3 overall and 0-3-2 in the Horizon League while the Phoenix move to 3-9-4 overall and 1-3-2 in the league.

Senior goalkeeper Nicole Kline recorded her third career shutout and first of the season with five saves against the Phoenix.  Green Bay goalkeeper Maddie Drusch collected eight saves, including five in the first half, en route to her fifth shutout of the year..

Freshman Jade Flory and senior Geneva Strelka each tallied four shots and Flory posted a team-high three shots on goal.

The Guins return to action, Wednesday, Oct. 19, when they visit Cleveland State at 7 p.m.

In recent years past, Youngstown State would tote out a soccer team that was not very competitive.  The program, which has only been in operation since 1996, has never had a season with more than six wins in a single season.  Head Coach, Will Lemke (above), has things going in the right direction.  With an unusual mix of experience and youth – and not much in between, the Penguins 2011 version for soccer has been competitive and played respectably.

The past was so rough that YSU has never posted a victory against conference foes Wright State, Milwaukee, or Valparaiso.  Going into Wednesday’s game against Detroit, the Penguins hold a record of 3-6-2, but three of their losses are by a single goal and they are 1-0-2 in games that go into overtime.  The biggest difference showing positive progress would have to be the scores.  Comb through the archives and you will see plenty of annual 6-0 losses each season.  This group is far more competitive and seem to be in every game.

“We are in a situation where we are trying to teach this team to win”, commented Lemke.  “We have an issue with physicality to start a game and then we bump it up as we go.  We are looking for consistency from the upperclassmen and applying what we learn into every game.”

“We are playing a vastly more difficult schedule than we have in the past”, noted the coach.  “We are playing competitively and it is a painfully slow, step-by-step process where these players are learning to win at this level.”

Freshman Jade Flory leads the team with seven goals.  Flory is one of eight freshmen on the 2011 roster.  The program has three seniors who have contributed. Kelsey Kempton, Nicole Kline, and Geneva Strelka will play their final six games for the Penguins to close out the season.  Lemke is optimistic about all of the experience he will return next season, knowing that as Freshmen, the eight are gaining valuable experience toward turning the program around.

“We look at film, we look at the positives.  We have had large segments in games where we have outplayed teams”, said Lemke.

“One thing this team does well is a phenomenal job with rebounding from a loss.  Whenever we have had a bad game, we seem to come right back with a good game.  We are very young, but we are starting to gain experience and we have unselfish players who are showing younger players what they need to do to be successful at this level”.