BROOKLYN --- (www.YORKATHLETICS.com) York College women's soccer opened their 2022 season Saturday afternoon, dropping a 6-1 non-conference home decision to the Mitchell College Mariners (4-4-1) from Aviator Field.

Alisha Adams had the first glimpse at goal just over three minutes into the match with a free kick that met the hands of Mitchell's Angelina Munoz (2–0-1). The Mariners responded quickly, as Elon Johnson broke away from near the halfway line to slot home her second goal of the campaign to break the scoring ice. Less than two minutes later, Cassandra Roman doubled Mitchell's advantage with a strike just outside the six-yard box past Cardinal netminder Katherine Perez (0-1-0) for her second game-winning goal of the season. Mariah Travisano (12') added a goal, followed by a brace by Lleana Perez (13', 17') to make it 5-0. The Cardinals got on the board at the stroke of halftime when Emelin Cajamarca tucked away a pass from Alisha Adams to beat Munoz with 37 seconds left in the stanza. Araceli Archer rounded out the scoring for Mitchell in the 47th minute.

In the final 45 minutes, the Cardinals created opportunities (six shots) to breach the Mariners' goal, but could not get the finishing touch.

"We had numerous chances to score goals. We just need to improve on taking the shots and improving our goal output."-head coach Winston Winston Willabus 

Cajamarca, Adams, and Taylor Bellmon offered signs of promising attacking play. Along with her goal, Cajamarca generated three shots on target. Bellmon's two efforts both forced saves as well. In addition to her assist, Adams showed her energy throughout, making attacking runs and pressuring the Mariners' back line into mistakes. In the middle of the park, Zaria Neptune impressed.

"[She] started at midfield and then dropped to the defensive line and played dynamically. She certainly helped organize our defenders and slowed Mitchell's offense in the second half."-coach Willabus added

While Mitchell had more shots at goal (21-10), they only had one more effort (9) on target than York (8). Contextually, the Cardinals tested the Mariners' goalkeeper on 80 percent of their attempts.  Perez finished with three stops in York's goal while Munoz and Gemma Landry combined to make seven saves for Mitchell.  

The Cardinals (0-1-0) travel to Morristown, New Jersey to face the Saint Elizabeth University Eagles (2-5-1) on Tuesday (Oct. 4) at 4 p.m. from SEU Field.

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