(Brooklyn, NY) – For the last four years, Mount Saint Vincent senior
Jackie Rizzotto (Mahopac, NY/Mahopac HS) has done just about everything asked of her as a member of the Women's Soccer team. Once a star goalkeeper, Rizzotto gave up her starting spot a year ago and joined the Mount Saint Vincent defense, and has excelled in that capacity, leading the Mount to the Hudson Valley Women's Athletic Conference (HVWAC) Final Four a year ago. A Team Captain, a leader, the perfect teammate, when Rizzotto has been needed, she has always come through, regardless of whether or not the result turned up on the stat sheet.
On Saturday, Rizzotto came through in the clutch once again, scoring the first two goals of her career to lead Mount Saint Vincent to a 3-1 come-from-behind victory over Medgar Evers to win their HVWAC opener and end what had been a difficult week for the Mount, as the Dolphins lost 9-1 to Stevens on Monday, and 3-0 to St Thomas Aquinas on Thursday. With the win, the Mount improves to 4-4 overall after finishing 3-10 a year ago.
Medgar Evers forward Kaunda Francis opened the scoring with a breakaway goal in the 19th minute to give the Cougars the lead, and seemingly put them in position to pull off a major upset. However, that's when Rizzotto stepped in. In the 36th minute and then the 40th minute, Rizzotto found the back of the net at the tail end of a transition play to give the Mount a 2-1 halftime advantage. The score remained the same for much of the second half as Mount Saint Vincent dominated possession and shots, but were unable to score an insurance goal.
That was until Jessica McBain (Troy, NY/Troy HS) gave the Mount a 3-1 advantage in the 88th minute, scoring her fifth goal of the season off of an assist by Katherine Gentsch (Staten Island, NY/Curtis HS). Gentsch now leads the Dolphins with 14 points.
Mount Saint Vincent out-shot Medgar Evers, 27-5 and took 12 corner kicks to Medgar Evers's one corner kick.
Mount Saint Vincent gets a bit of a break after a long week. They are in action on once this week, a road trip to HVWAC foe Marymount on Wednesday at 4:00 p.m.
