That was all the Rensselaer women’s lacrosse team needed in its final conference weekend to secure a spot in the Liberty League Tournament for the first time ever. Unfortunately, it was not to be, as both the Rochester Yellowjackets and the William Smith Herons pulled out one goal victories over the Red Hawks.

RPI was slow out of the gate against Rochester, falling into a 4-0 hole in the first 23 minutes of the game. Junior Rebecca Primm finally got the Red Hawks on the board with just over a minute left in the first when she took a pass from senior Hilary Lahn and beat Yellowjacket goalie Cassie Glanton. Just 16 seconds after Primm scored, Rachel Hawley put Rochester back up by four, off an assist from Melina Hong.

Primm recorded her second goal of the half with eight seconds remaining on a free position shot to pull RPI to 5-2 at halftime.

Sophomore Brianne Balzer pulled the Red Hawks to within two with a goal 7:15 into the second half. After two Yellowjacket free position goals, junior Kate Phillips, freshman Natalie White, and Lahn tallied goals in a two minute span to pull the score to 7-6 with 14 and a half minutes left. Freshman Carly Strife had an assist on Lahn’s goal.

Rochester extended the lead to three with goals by Hawley and Heidi Davies. White recorded her second goal of the game with 6:50 left but Davies answered with her second goal of the game 40 second later.

Senior Elisa Prange recorded two goals in a 56-second span to close the Yellowjacket lead to 10-9 with 1:52 left but it was all the Red Hawks could muster and they walked away facing a must win situation on Saturday to make the Liberty League tournament.

Glanton made six saves for Rochester and senior Megan Gaul had nine stops in the loss.

RPI controlled the opening faceoff against the Herons and White worked it into the zone and beat goaltender Adele Hayward just 15 seconds in. William Smith tied the game 1:38 later on a goal by Sarah Dillion.

Phillips put the Red Hawks back up off an assist by Primm with 26:16 left in the half.

After Kate Bickford and Dillion gave the Herons the lead with three goals in a four minute span, Lahn sandwiched a goal between markers by freshman Morgan Wahl to give the Red Hawks a 5-4 halftime lead.

Lahn gave RPI a two goal lead just 1:13 into the second period but the William Smith tightened up their defense and scored the final three goals of the game, the winner coming with 5:42 left, to pull out the 7-6 victory and end the Red Hawks’ Liberty League playoff hopes.

Hayward tallied nine saves for the Herons and Gaul had 13 saves.

With the losses RPI falls to 5-6 on the season and 4-4 in Liberty League play, tied with William Smith for fifth in the league.