WEST POINT, N.Y. – Junior Kim An’s goal with 45 seconds left lifted Army to a hard fought 1-0 win over Syracuse and second place honors at the Black Knight Classic Sunday afternoon at Clinton Field . Unbeaten Iowa (8-0-0) trounced LIU 4-0 in the first game of the day to capture the team title with a 2-0-0 tournament record. 

 

Army leveled its season record to 4-4-0 following the win after closing out the tournament with a 1-1-0 mark. The Black Knights fell 2-1 to the Hawkeyes Friday evening, and Army’s goal is just the third scored against Iowa this season. Syracuse (3-3-1) went 1-1-0 to place third followed by LIU (0-2-0).

 

An was named to the all-tournament team along with defender Molly McGuigan and goalkeeper Linda Rosas. It is the third straight year that An has been selected for Black Knight Classic all-tourney honors, and is the second straight year for McGuigan.

 

Syracuse outshot Army 8-2 in the first half and 11-4 in the second  half for a 19-6 advantage, but only six shots were on goal with Rosas (4-3-0) turning all six aside in notching her second shutout in her career this week. Army and Syracuse each had six corner kicks with the Black Knights collecting four in the second half.

 

The sophomore keeper made four saves in the second half, two spectacular stops late in the game. In the 77th minute, Alexis Koval’s shot hit the right post and Rosas smothered the ball off the riochet. Six minutes later Rosas made a diving save to her right following a shot by Koval. Less than two minutes before An’s game winner, Rosas rejected a long shot by Rosina Callisto.

 

An was thwarted by Orange keeper Brittany Anghel just over 16 minutes into the second half when she booted a hard shot at her in front of the goal that was rejected.

 

“When I hit that kind of shot, you just kind of know it is going in,” said An, who had all three of her shots on goal.  “I thought I shucked it well. The keeper had an awesome save so it was all her, but I was frustrated.”

 

Two minutes later Joey Molacek’s shot hit the post and went right into the hands of Anghel.

 

With the seconds ticking away, An took a cross from classmate Ruthie Rosenberger inside the six and booted it into the right corner of the net at the 89:15 minute mark. The goal is her second of the tournament, third of the season and second game winner. The Oak Ridge, N.J., native has 22 career goals and 10 game winners to take over sole possession of sixth place on Army’s all-time chart in the latter, and is just two shy of sharing ninth place in the former. The assist is the second of the season for Rosenberger and career fourth.

 

“I went a few games not scoring before the tournament,” stated An, “and scoring a pair of goals this weekend helped get my confidence up. My team gave me great opportunities. I scored on two crosses, so it tells you how hard we are working with the outside mids doing a great job serving the ball in.”

 

 

 

Though Army was held to just two shots in the first half, both were on goal, the first at the 16 minute mark by freshman Katie Holder and the second by An that was tipped away at the last second by Anghel, who finished with four saves.

 

“Our team played ridiculously hard,” said Army interim head coach Fred Thompson. “Things could have bounced either way, but I am glad it bounced our way. I think it was a very good result for us.

 

“We made some adjustments on defense in the second half. Overall, we were very solid, but we need to fix a couple of issues in our midfield as Syracuse put a little too much pressure on our defense. They held up and Linda (Rosas) did a great job in goal as well.

 

“Our team always tries hard. I didn’t think we started out as well as we should have and put too much pressure on ourselves. We fought through and made adjustments along the way, and different players stepped up. As the game kept going, we kept fighting and kept grinding away. In the end it was a great goal – stuff that we work on in practice almost every other day, and it was good to see that.”

 

Army, closing out a four-game home stretch, heads to California next weekend to participate in the Under Armour Classic hosted by Cal State Fullerton. Army takes on the host team Friday and Long Beach State on Sunday.

WEST POINT, N.Y. – Junior Kim An’s goal with 45 seconds left lifted Army to a hard fought 1-0 win over Syracuse and second place honors at the Black Knight Classic Sunday afternoon at Clinton Field . Unbeaten Iowa (8-0-0) trounced LIU 4-0 in the first game of the day to capture the team title with a 2-0-0 tournament record. 

 

Army leveled its season record to 4-4-0 following the win after closing out the tournament with a 1-1-0 mark. The Black Knights fell 2-1 to the Hawkeyes Friday evening, and Army’s goal is just the third scored against Iowa this season. Syracuse (3-3-1) went 1-1-0 to place third followed by LIU (0-2-0).

 

An was named to the all-tournament team along with defender Molly McGuigan and goalkeeper Linda Rosas. It is the third straight year that An has been selected for Black Knight Classic all-tourney honors, and is the second straight year for McGuigan.

 

Syracuse outshot Army 8-2 in the first half and 11-4 in the second  half for a 19-6 advantage, but only six shots were on goal with Rosas (4-3-0) turning all six aside in notching her second shutout in her career this week. Army and Syracuse each had six corner kicks with the Black Knights collecting four in the second half.

 

The sophomore keeper made four saves in the second half, two spectacular stops late in the game. In the 77th minute, Alexis Koval’s shot hit the right post and Rosas smothered the ball off the riochet. Six minutes later Rosas made a diving save to her right following a shot by Koval. Less than two minutes before An’s game winner, Rosas rejected a long shot by Rosina Callisto.

 

An was thwarted by Orange keeper Brittany Anghel just over 16 minutes into the second half when she booted a hard shot at her in front of the goal that was rejected.

 

“When I hit that kind of shot, you just kind of know it is going in,” said An, who had all three of her shots on goal.  “I thought I shucked it well. The keeper had an awesome save so it was all her, but I was frustrated.”

 

Two minutes later Joey Molacek’s shot hit the post and went right into the hands of Anghel.

 

With the seconds ticking away, An took a cross from classmate Ruthie Rosenberger inside the six and booted it into the right corner of the net at the 89:15 minute mark. The goal is her second of the tournament, third of the season and second game winner. The Oak Ridge, N.J., native has 22 career goals and 10 game winners to take over sole possession of sixth place on Army’s all-time chart in the latter, and is just two shy of sharing ninth place in the former. The assist is the second of the season for Rosenberger and career fourth.

 

“I went a few games not scoring before the tournament,” stated An, “and scoring a pair of goals this weekend helped get my confidence up. My team gave me great opportunities. I scored on two crosses, so it tells you how hard we are working with the outside mids doing a great job serving the ball in.”

 

 

 

Though Army was held to just two shots in the first half, both were on goal, the first at the 16 minute mark by freshman Katie Holder and the second by An that was tipped away at the last second by Anghel, who finished with four saves.

 

“Our team played ridiculously hard,” said Army interim head coach Fred Thompson. “Things could have bounced either way, but I am glad it bounced our way. I think it was a very good result for us.

 

“We made some adjustments on defense in the second half. Overall, we were very solid, but we need to fix a couple of issues in our midfield as Syracuse put a little too much pressure on our defense. They held up and Linda (Rosas) did a great job in goal as well.

 

“Our team always tries hard. I didn’t think we started out as well as we should have and put too much pressure on ourselves. We fought through and made adjustments along the way, and different players stepped up. As the game kept going, we kept fighting and kept grinding away. In the end it was a great goal – stuff that we work on in practice almost every other day, and it was good to see that.”

 

Army, closing out a four-game home stretch, heads to California next weekend to participate in the Under Armour Classic hosted by Cal State Fullerton. Army takes on the host team Friday and Long Beach State on Sunday.