Sydney Tanner (left) tangles with a Potsdam player while Karen Johnson looks on (photo by Ron Szot).
A penalty kick by Melanie Minotti just 35 seconds into the first overtime lifted Fredonia State women's soccer to a 2-1 SUNYAC home win over Potsdam on Saturday afternoon at University Stadium.
Minotti was chosen for the shot after teammate Gabby Alston, in on a break, was ruled to have been taken down in the box by a Potsdam defender.
The play began out of the midfield with Jordan Barrett leading a counter-attack. Barrett laid off the ball to Nicki Barlow, Barlow passed ahead to Minotti, and Minotti fed Alston who stepped past her defender. Alston managed to get off a shot as she was falling and Potsdam goalkeeper Delphine Leonard rushed off her line to make the save.
Leonard was not as fortunate on Minotti's PK, which found the upper right corner of the net. It was her second goal of the game and her seventh of the season.
The win gave the Blue Devils a 4-4-1 overall record and a 1-0-1 mark in the SUNYAC, including a 3-3 double-overtime tie Friday with Plattsburgh. Fredonia State's trip to Plattsburgh and Potsdam last season resulted in two losses, this year at home in four points.
The Blue Devils took a 1-0 lead in the eighth minute after Leonard stopped Sophia Alesi with a leaping save which then deflected off the cross bar. Minotti gathered in the rebound, spun around a defender, and scored from close range.
It stayed 1-0 until the 61st minute. That's when Potsdam's Kristina Sanchez scored on a penalty kick following a foul just inside the 18-yard line. It was the lone shot to elude Fredonia State goalkeeper Sabrina Suriani, who made 12 saves.
The Bears (4-5-0 overall, 1-1-0 SUNYAC) outshot the Blue Devils 20-10 and took eight corner kicks. The Blue Devils had none.
