BEAVER FALLS, Pa. – In what has become a common theme for the Geneva women's soccer program in the early part of the season, defense was the name of the game in the Golden Tornadoes' match with Oberlin on Saturday afternoon. The two sides battled to a scoreless draw for the second time in Geneva's last three matches, as the GTs salvaged a point despite being outshot. The women now have an overall record of 1-1-2, while Oberlin remains in search of its first win at 0-2-2.

The first twenty minutes did not hold much action for either side, with lots of back-and-forth play across the midfield. Junior Abby Stover created a decent opportunity for the GTs in the 20^th minute, pressuring the Oberlin back line to win possession, but the ball took an awkward bounce up and hit her hand to nullify the following shot attempt. Seven minutes later, Oberlin had a beautiful free kick shot that banged off the crossbar, and that was the last real opportunity for either team in the first half.

Again, neither side could find much room to work with to start the second half, although the Yeowomen put together a well-worked possession up the left side in the 56^th minute. The resulting shot forced freshman goalkeeper Natalie Foster to dive to her left, but she had the ball covered all the way to make the save.

With about 15 minutes to play, Geneva had a stretch of excellent opportunities, stringing together a few passes to create space in the attacking third of the field. No real shooting lanes opened up, however, and the women came away with nothing to show for their efforts. Oberlin threatened one more time before the final whistle blew with a nice through ball up the middle, but freshman center back Cassidy Stopchick did an excellent job of using her body to shield the ball from the Yeowomen attacker, allowing Foster to come up in the box and intercept the ball and preserve the shutout.

It is the third shutout for the Golden Tornadoes in four matches this season, an excellent mark for a very young squad. Offensively, the GTs struggled, getting outshot by Oberlin 9-3, but five saves from Foster proved critical to gaining the point.

The women hit the road next week, traveling to Mount Union for a 7:00 p.m. match with the Purple Raiders on Wednesday, September 10^th.

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