On Friday, RPI took on the St. Lawrence Saints. In the first half the Saints came out and took control of the game early. Their effort paid off in the 13th minute when Jen Giller put a ball past sophomore Red Hawk keeper Tara Marandino. That proved to be the only goal of the half and RPI went into halftime down 1-0.

Red Hawks’ Head Coach Leslie Khachadourian commented, “We sat back too much in the first half and SLU took advantage of that to score the first goal. We went into the second half fired up and playing at a higher caliber.”

Rensselaer did indeed come out fired up, puting the pressure on the Saints’ defense and goalkeeper Carly Draper. Draper was up to the task, making some huge saves and keeping the Red Hawks off the board to preserve the 1-0 victory for St. Lawrence.

The Red Hawks were out shot by the Saints 20-12. Marandino, who played the first half had one save, and junior Regina Primm, who came in after halftime to take over the goaltending duties, had two saves for RPI. Draper finished with ten saves for St. Lawrence.

On Saturday, the Red Hawks took the field against the Golden Knights of Clarkson. The game was played in very high wind conditions which caused the ball to carry out of play quite often, leading to quite a few throw-ins and goal kicks.

In the first half RPI chose to take the wind at their back’s and kept the ball deep into Clarkson territory putting 14 shots at Golden Knight keeper Lauren Arredondo. Arredondo did a good job early however making some big saves including just beating junior Jessica Chetuck to a loose ball inside the penalty box 25 minutes into the game, after Chetuck made a great move around a defender and had a breakaway.

The Red Hawks finally broke through with about nine minutes left in the half when junior Katie Fredlund floated a corner kick into the box that senior Laura Feeney headed off the inside of the right post right above a defender’s head and into the back of the net for a 1-0 lead.

In the second half, the wind helped Clarkson even out the play to both ends of the field, causing the RPI defense to step up and make some key clears.

The Red Hawks got an insurance goal at the 78:24 mark of the game off a corner kick. Fredlund put the ball into the box that found the head of junior Adele Godfrey-Certner, who flicked the ball onto the foot of fellow classmate Anne Drames. Drames took one touch and blasted a shot into the net for a 2-0 lead.

The Golden Knights took the ball right off the ensuing kick-off and marched into the Red Hawks’ zone. Wendy Spindler got a hold of a loose ball in the middle of the field and drove a shot just under a diving Primm to cut the lead to 2-1. It was the last good opportunity Clarkson got however and RPI went on to a 2-1 victory.

Khachadourian commented, “We could have used it [the wind] more to our advantage, but despite that we were able to hold on to the lead. Even defending against the wind, we dominated play and kept possession.”

The Red Hawks out shot the Golden Knights 22-8 in the game. Arredondo had 10 saves for Clarkson in the loss. Primm finished with four saves in the win.

RPI’s last game of the regular season was played yesterday at the University of Rochester.