On Thursday, Sept. 12, Women’s Soccer had an exciting 1-0 over Villanova thanks to goalie Jess Benattar’s ’26  impressive save during a second-half penalty kick and an explosive shot from Teresa Deda ’25, her fourth of the season. This leaves the Bison’s current record at 4-2-1.

Deda’s game winning goal came in the 35th minute of the game, which was even further protected by the incredible Bison defense. While Villanova had 62 percent possession of the ball, the Bison back line held their ground, only allowing a total of 12 shots on goal for the entirety of the game. It was a big game for Benattar as well, with a career record of six saves. Aside from the PK in the 67th minute, Villanova took shots solely from outside the box. 

Head coach Kelly Cook sang praise to the defense as she told Bison Athletics, “Our back line, and really the defensive play across the entire team, was exceptional. When you score in the first half against a dangerous offensive team, that’s a long time to hold the lead. I thought we still kept our aggressive mindset and attacked when appropriate, but we defended as a unit and it was great to get the shutout.”

Villanova had the majority of possession of the ball throughout the first half of the game, but the Bison strengthened their offense beginning at the half-hour mark. In the 34th minute, Deda took a shot on goal but didn’t find her chance to score until a minute later. After a blocked pass from Villanova, she regained possession of the ball and sent a beautiful shot into the bottom left corner. Deda currently has 66 career points. Benattar ended the game with two vital saves that kept the Bisons win at 1-0.

Villanova finished the game with a shot advantage of 12-8. This win marked the Bison’s first win over Villanova in seven all-time meetings. 

The Bison then put up a fight against Fairleigh Dickinson on Sunday Sept. 15, their last game of the non-conference schedule, which ended in a 0-0 tie. 

The Bison have a current record of 4-2-2 against FDU’s record of 0-3-5 and majorly outshot FDU 14-4 during the game. 

In the 13th minute of the game, the Bison had their first close goal attempt, which was ultimately broken up by FDU’s freshman goalie. Shortly after, Presley Sutter ’28 attempted a header off a rebounded shot, which went wide. And, although Benattar didn’t have any saves throughout the game, she was constantly in movement throughout the second half as FDU attempted a number of passes in front of the goal.

Later in the game, the Bison faced a worrisome free kick from FDU, but Benattar came to the rescue once again to snatch it before it became a goal. Kelley Francis ’25 and Meghan White ’26 both had shots on goal closer to the end of the game, which were saved by the FDU goalie. 

With only 3:30 left, it seemed that the Bison had finally found their winning goal after Riley Hayes ’27 was able to slip past the goalie, but with only a few inches to the goal line, FDU’s goalie saved the game. FDU ended the game with seven saves from their goalie. 

Look out for the Bison’s next game against Colgate at 1 p.m. at home this Saturday, Sept. 21. This will mark the official beginning of the Patriot League 2024 Women’s Soccer season.