BEAVER FALLS, Pa. – The Geneva College women's soccer team played its best game of the season on Tuesday night in the season finale, defeating visiting Franciscan 4-0 to send its eleven seniors off with an impressive victory under first-year Head Coach Micah Fitz.

Geneva entered its match with Franciscan on Tuesday night knowing it had already been eliminated from the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) postseason, with the Barons also sitting in the same position out of the playoffs, despite some impressive recent performances by Franciscan.  In fact, the Barons' recent results included a one-goal loss, 4-3, to the top team in the conference in Grove City, along with a tie to Waynesburg, 1-1, which was against a Yellow Jacket squad that defeated Geneva 5-2 over the weekend.

Right from the opening kickoff, though, the Golden Tornadoes were determined to make sure their eleven seniors finished their careers with a win, and they dominated the game from the opening moments.  Within the first few minutes, the women had already earned three corner kicks and gotten off five shots, including two on goal.  Sophomore Abby Stover had a great chance in the eighth minute when a loose ball fell to her in the box, but her shot from seven yards away went just over the bar.

Geneva kept pushing and almost broke through in the 22^nd minute when junior Emily Garvin put a through-ball in behind the Franciscan defense that senior Saige Musser ran onto, but her shot past the oncoming Franciscan goalkeeper, Rebekka Dill, went just wide of the far post.  Eventually the two squads went into the break still scoreless despite Geneva holding an 11-3 edge in shots in the half, including a 5-1 advantage in shots on goal.

If the Golden Tornadoes were at all frustrated that they didn't convert their chances in the first half, it certainly didn't show in the opening moments of the second half.  It took Geneva all of 47 seconds to break through.  Sophomore Noelle Beare took a shot from 30 yards away that beat a diving Dill but deflected off the far post.  However, the ball bounced right to senior Julia Robertson, and Robertson immediately scored off the rebound from five yards out to give Geneva a lead.

The Golden Tornadoes never let up from there.  Three minutes later, Musser made a run down the outside and sent a cross into the box that took a deflection and fell to senior Olivia Anson, and Anson scored from eight yards away to double the Geneva lead.

The game settled down for the next 25 minutes as Franciscan tried to find its star freshman, Eva Dexter, who is third in the PAC with 14 goals.  Geneva's defensive backline of seniors Emma Daku-Treas, Addie Tallman and Sydney Marchand, junior Anna Ulmer and freshman Rebekah Dick, did great work at containing Dexter, and whenever she did get a shot off, senior goalkeeper Jade Farnsworth was there to make the save.

The women put the game away in the 76^th minute when Garvin made a lovely short pass into the box that put Musser in on net, and Musser scored from ten yards away to make it 3-0.  Just over a minute later, Garvin finished off the scoring when she dribbled around the last Franciscan defender and slotted a ball off Dill and into the net, giving the Golden Tornadoes the 4-0 victory.

The final stats were indicative of the control Geneva had on the match all night.  The women outshot Franciscan 25-9, including an 11-6 edge in shots on goal.  Farnsworth made six saves to earn her second shutout of the season in the final match of her career.

Coach Fitz will have some big holes to fill in next year's roster with the loss of eleven seniors, though a couple of the players do have an extra year or two of eligibility left if they want to return for one more season.  Fitz will now turn his primary attention to the recruiting trail as he tries to put together his first full class after being hired late in the recruiting process last spring.