PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. – The Plattsburgh State women's soccer team continued its unbeaten start to the 2021 season, defeating Union College, 4-2, at the Field House Complex in non-conference action Saturday afternoon.
 
The Cardinals outshot the Dutchwomen, 20-10, and also took five corner kicks to Union's two. Plattsburgh State relied on four different goal scorers in the victory.
 
Plattsburgh State rises to 2-0-2 overall with the win and next visits No. 11 Middlebury College on Wednesday, Sept. 15, at 4:30 p.m. Union drops to 1-2-1 overall with the loss and next hosts Western New England University on Wednesday, Sept. 15, at 7 p.m.
 
Senior midfielder Kieren Ritter (Riverside, Calif./Arlington) fired the opening salvo in the 12th minute, scoring her first goal as a Cardinal. Taking a free kick just on the edge of the penalty area, she found an open lane to slot the ball through, curling the ball inside the far post.
 
Just past the midway point in the first half, senior forward Kirsten Villemaire (Plattsburgh, N.Y./Beekmantown) scored her first goal of the season and the 20th of her career. After falling on the ground battling for the ball with a Union defender, Villemaire took control of the loose ball from approximately 24 yards out and uncorked a right-footed sliding strike that took a bad hop over the diving Dutchwoman goalkeeper and trickled into the back of the net.
 
Union responded 3:21 later to cut the lead in half. Junior midfielder Mia Milliken ripped a loose ball off a corner kick that clanged off the crossbar, and senior midfielder Erin O'Shea headed it into an open net.
 
Senior forward Taylor Tous (Port Jefferson Station, N.Y./Comsewogue) buried her first collegiate goal in the 39th minute to give Plattsburgh State a 3-1 advantage that stood up into the halftime intermission. Villemaire played the ball into the box, and a Union defender tried to head the ball toward the wing and out of the 18-yard box. Tous took advantage of chaos around the net, lifting a shot from the edge of the six-yard box that ricocheted off the bottom of the crossbar and past the goal line.
 
Through the opening stanza, the Cardinals held a 14-6 edge in shots.
 
Union trimmed the gap back to one just 5:57 into the second half. Sophomore defender Liz DiCecco wrested the ball away from a Plattsburgh State defender and drove down the left wing outside of the 18-yard box. She sent a cross into the center of the penalty area and found senior midfielder Emma Schleimer wide open, and Schleimer scored inside the near post.
 
Sophomore midfielder Avery Durgan (West Chazy, N.Y./Beekmantown) added insurance in the 59th minute with her third goal of the season. After Union failed to clear the ball on a header, Durgan settled the ball down outside of the 18-yard box and laced a left-footed missile past the diving keeper.
 
Junior goalkeeper Julia Ennis (Carmel, N.Y./Kennedy Catholic) (2-0-2) earned the win in net for the Cardinals, making seven saves, while junior goalkeeper Abby Mitt (1-2-1) sustained the loss for the Dutchwomen.