Oswego goal keeper Amy Annala couldn’t stop Batavia’s first shot on goal Saturday.
But coach Brian Falli insisted the senior is “a rock and a big part of the reason” the Panthers dealt Batavia a 2-1 nonconference setback.
“She’s mastered what good goalies do and that’s have a short memory, shake off whatever happened before,” Falli said of an 11-save performance coupled with another six defensive catches or clears of potentially dangerous balls.
“I’m not so sure I’ve really mastered that, but I know we have to keep battling and focus on every play after that,” said the Northern Illinois-bound goalie, who owns 10 shutouts. “The whole defense deserves credit for limiting their chances and especially for keeping 23 (Batavia’s Karina Rosales) contained.”
That wasn’t the case 7:51 into the match as Megan McEachern’s solid through ball to Kim Stanczak was worthy of a double assist that created a six-yarder from the left side for Rosales. That was the junior forward’s team-high 11th goal.
“We’ve been practicing through ball finishes and that was a great ball across,” Rosales said. “Their goalie was too far over so I just had to touch it into an open net.”
Unfortunately for the Bulldogs (10-8-1), that wasn’t enough to add to a four-match win streak as Oswego (12-5-2) sought to get back in the win column after consecutive one-goal losses broke a seven-match victory streak.
With 6:10 left before halftime, Oswego’s Krissy Klingbeil got her third goal of the year with a 20-yard direct kick that found the back of the net.
The Panthers had more good fortune 44.2 seconds prior to intermission when Coppes got her first goal with a 26-yard boot from the right wing. A Batavia defender allowed it through to the keeper only to have a quirky bounce get past the Bulldog goalie.
The first 20 minutes of the second half was spent in Oswego’s half of the field as Batavia tried finding an equalizer a variety of ways as evidenced by a 19-8 advantage for overall attempts and a 12-6 edge in shots on goal.
“They were sitting back and their keeper was really effective on the high balls, unfortunately we played everything either high or right to her,” Batavia coach Mark Gianfrancesco said. “We need to play more to the posts. On the plus side, we knocked the ball around pretty well and that kind of effort is always nice.”
