Sept. 3, 2010
Final Stats
LOUDONVILLE, N.Y. - Siena seems to be on a magic carpet ride this season. After the Saints started the year with comeback wins at UConn and Stony Brook they tallied their most improbable victory, 4-3 over Providence Friday afternoon in Loudonville.
"We seem to be the comeback kids right now," senior midfielder Tabitha Tice said. "If we can do that at the beginning of the season, by the end of the season we hope to be just winning games and keeping this magic going."
Providence (3-1), who hadn't allowed a goal in 345 minutes to start the season, led Siena 2-0 with less than 15 minutes remaining. The Saints (3-0) couldn't have dreamed up the next six minutes.
Freshman Brittany Pfaff had a shot blocked in the penalty box, then regained possession and tucked her shot inside the right post and cut the deficit in half. Less than a minute later, Coreena D'Alfonso won the ball back in the final third and served a flighted ball into Tice. Tice took it down off her chest and volleyed it into the left side of the goal. In less than 60 seconds Siena had tied it. They didn't stop there.
Pfaff ran onto a long ball down the middle of the field and challenged the keeper who came charging out. The keeper blocked it away with her chest and the ball popped out to Tice. She lobbed a shot over everyone and into the vacated goal for a 3-2 lead. Minutes later, Tice played a through ball to Pfaff who beat the defender to the ball and shot it low and inside the left post.
Six minutes, four goals.
"We seem to be able to score goals fast and that's what we did," Tice said.
Providence's Jill Camburn scored in the 87th minute to make it a one goal game, but the Saints drained the final minutes and earned their third straight comeback win of the season.
"Sometimes in soccer, you get one goal and it just snowballs and leads to another," head coach Steve Karbowski said. "We just started feeling like we could do it."
Tice recorded a career-high five points and Pfaff added another two goals to her fabulous freshman season. She leads the team with five goals and 10 points.
Goalkeeper Laura Ettinger (2-0) earned the win with six saves.
The Saints return to action next Friday when they face Quinnipiac in Hamden, Conn.
Notes: Siena is receiving votes in the NSCAA National Poll...Siena has scored all 11 of its goals this season after halftime...Siena has a 16-2-3 non-conference record since the start of the 2008 season and is undefeated in those home games (9-0-1)...Siena is 16-2-2 at home the past two years...Providence shutout Sacred Heart (2-0), Iona (4-0) and American (1-0) prior to today's game.
