This past Saturday the Red Hawks absolutely obliterated the Westfield State Owls. The experience and team play of the Red Hawks was apparent as they kept the Owls running in circles around them.
The majority of the first half was spent down around the Westfield goal. While Westfield did make a few forays into RPI territory, they never managed to find the back of the net. RPI, on the other hand, managed to pull four goals out of the half.
Jessica Butler opened up the scoring 6:17 into the half. At 9:08 she had an assist on another goal by Sondra Sherman.
Throughout the half, the RPI players seemed to be following the path of least resistance and found many holes in the Westfield defense to play through. Additional goals were contributed by Chelsea Foley at 15:01 and Elisa Prange at 31:14 with an assist from Laurie Young.
Toward the end of the first half, the Owls almost seemed to be getting things together, a cohesiveness that lasted a few minutes into the second half. While a little more time was spent around the RPI goal for the half, it was not enough to give the Owls any goals.
By the beginning of the second half the story had already been written for this game. Many of the Westfield attempts into RPI territory were soon stunted by the RPI defense. RPI, on the other hand, managed to score four more goals—one by Katie Coleman, one by Sherman, and two by Prange with assists by Foley and Sherman. Thus, the Red Hawks ended the game 8-0.
The Red Hawk goalie, Cathy Hotchkiss, had a pretty quiet game, not even having to make a single save in the either half. The RPI defense was very strong throughout the game, preventing any attempts Westfield mustered up.
This win was RPI’s second of the season. The Red Hawks will be playing again on Saturday at Drew University.
