SCRANTON, PA – Rookie Riley McGrath scored in the 65th minute of play to lift the Vassar women's soccer team to its first win of the 2022 season – a 1-0 victory at 10th-ranked University of Scranton on Saturday evening. The Brewers are now 1-2-1 overall, while the Royals suffer their first loss of the season and are now 3-1-0.

After a scoreless opening half that saw the Brewers dominate in shots, Vassar came out firing in the second stanza with rookie Livy Soble posting back-to-back shots in the Royals zone. The Brewers finally broke through as McGrath scored the first of her collegiate career. Sophomore Jacqueline Morrison got the play started, dribbling the ball around a Royals' defender at the middle top of the box. Sending a feed to McGrath at the top left corner, the rookie settled the ball, dropped back several steps before rifling a long shot into the top right corner past the leaping reach of keeper Nicole Olson.

The Brewers defense was outstanding throughout the game, limiting the homestanding Royals to just seven shots in the game – none of which connected on goal. The Brewers saw sophomore Noelle Namba attempt to make it a 2-0 lead in the 78th minute, but the ball carried just left as Vassar continued to hold the 1-0 margin.

A shot by junior Arian Pjetri in the 86th minute toward the bottom left corner was quickly saved by Olson and the Royals headed back down the field to try to tie, but shots from Niamh Healy and Kaylee Murphy banked wide of the net as the Brewers held on for the one-goal victory.

Vassar opened the game's action quickly as a shot by senior Violet Munnelly was saved in the bottom center by Olson in the 15th minute. Namba had another great attempt for the visitors in the 26th minute, but Olson was there once again to keep it scoreless.

In the 35th minute, junior Justine Tapert put a shot on toward the bottom right, but Olson made the stop and Tapert's final shot of the half went just wide with two minutes remaining to send the squads into halftime scoreless.

For the Brewers, junior Teresa Zimmer earned the win, not forced to make any shots in 90 minutes of play. Her counterpart, Olson had six stops on the night.

The Brewers, who held a 17-9 margin in shots for the game (7-0 on goal), is back in action on Wednesday against Western Connecticut State at Gordon Field for a 4pm start at home.