YONKERS, N.Y. – With ice running through her veins, Lainie Cadieux was called upon to take the biggest shot of the season, which she converted by sending the penalty kick past Manhattanville's Macey Girard to give the Sarah Lawrence College women's soccer team a 1-0 victory.
 
With the win, the Gryphons (14-3-2) advance to the Skyline Conference championship for the first time in school history.
 
"Mahattanville played a fantastic game in the first half," said Sarah Lawrence head coach Maurizio Grillo. "They were clearly more comfortable and confident on the ball. They played with the mindset of a team that had been in that position before and knew what to do. At half time. we analyzed the first 45 minutes and spoke with the team at length on how we needed to approach the game in the second half - continue to match their physicality but also find a way to play our style of soccer. I think our approach in the second half was fantastic and we delivered good soccer."
 
Girard was steadfast in goal for the fifth-seeded Valiants (6-10-2) collecting three saves in the second half, but thankfully for the rowdy crew of SLC fans in attendance, Girard ended with a 75 percent save percentage rather than a perfect 100 percent if she had stopped the penalty kick from the foot of Cadieux in the 58^th minute.
 
Cadieux, a senior defender from Campbell, Calif., made sure that she was going to do everything in her power to get the win and play the Skyline championship match at Fleming Field. The goal was her seventh of the season and third in as many games.
 
"Viktoria Balbin collected a pass from Lily Matalus and took a shot roughly from 25-yards out," Grilllo said about how the penalty kick was set up. "One of the Manhattanville center backs hit the ball with her hands. In preparation for this game. we practiced penalties, and Lainie had been pretty confident in all of her previous attempts during practice. Furthermore. I knew that she was going to be calm and composed as she had four years to prep for that moment."
 
When she isn't helping with the offense and putting goals on the scoreboard, Cadieux has been part of an impressive crew on defense that has allowed just three goals during the Skyline Conference portion of the schedule. In those matches against Skyline Conference foes, SLC has posted an impressive nine shutouts and has only trailed for a total of 17:58 out of 990 minutes of action.
 
The goalkeeper tandem of Maya Pfeiffer and Bridgette Lee should also get some credit for stopping the shots they've faced helping play a part in not allowing the Gryphons to play from behind over the majority of the season.
 
Lee was called upon to take on the Valiants and stopped all three shots on goal making the result the 10^th match this season she has played in that SLC has not given up a goal. Lee now has a 0.70 goals against average and has saved 32 of the 40 shots on goal the opposition has had against her and improving her individual record to 9-2-1.
 
Despite the game being very physical throughout, the referees only called a total of 13 fouls throughout the contest with SLC leading 8-5 in that category, but the lone foul that Manhattanville was called for in the second half proved to be the most costly as it was inside the penalty box giving Cadieux the opportunity of her collegiate career on which she did not disappoint.
 
There was just one corner kick the entire night and that was taken by Manhattanville, but SLC led the way in shots taken (11-8) and shots on goal (4-3) and, most importantly, on the scoreboard in goals 1-0.
 
UP NEXT
SLC is looking to become just the fourth school to win a Skyline Conference women's soccer championship since the conference first started in the 2004 season. Former member Stevens Institute won the first three titles, St. Joseph's-Long Island won in 2015 and Farmingdale State has won it from 2007-14 and 2016-21 for a total of 13 conference postseason titles including the last five.
 
Farmingdale State is the three-seed in this season's tournament but is very capable to continuing on with the dynasty that has been ruling over the rest of the Skyline Conference since the 2007 season. The Rams will, however, be in uncharted territory as they will enter the Skyline Conference tournament title match on the road when they come to Fleming Field on Saturday.
 
It's going to be a very physical and hard-fought game," said Grillo about the upcoming title bout. "We are going to have to do our homework both on and off the field. Preparation will start tomorrow with video analysis and will carry on for the next two days on the field."
 
The kickoff time has not been determined at the time of this recap being published so in order to stay abreast of when the Gryphons and Rams will battle it out for Skyline Conference women's soccer supremacy, please continue to monitor gogrphons.com and the department's Instagram account at SLCGryphons.
 
"The fans are the fuel that is powering our engines," Grillo exclaimed about the fans in attendance tonight and in hopes of having an even bigger turnout on Saturday. "We hear and recognize all of their voices on the side lines, from President Collins Judd, to the other coaches in our athletic department who have canceled practices to come support us with their team, the parents who travel hours to watch their daughter play for a few minutes, and of course, our incredible student body population. Thank you."