Entering the weekend, the field hockey team needed a pair of wins, and help for a chance to get into the Liberty League playoffs. RPI got a Friday win against Union and got the help it needed when Union beat Vassar early on Saturday. Later that day, though, the Skidmore Thoroughbreds ended the Red Hawks’ playoff hopes with a 5-1 victory.
In the victory against bitter rival Union, the Red Hawks got goals from sophomore midfielder Michelle Roy and junior midfielder Emily Carroll, and 10 saves from senior goalkeeper and captain Amanda Lund.
“For the first three or four minutes, we were real flat,” said Head Coach Bridget LaNoir. “But we definitely picked up our game from that point on through the rest of the game—in the second half especially.”
Carroll scored less than 10 minutes into the game from about 15 yards out. Union’s Jessica Trotter tied it up at the 21:29 mark, picking up her 12th goal of the year, making her fifth in the Liberty League in goals. Roy got the game-winner on a feed from freshman Kristiina Baker with about 15 minutes left.
With the first piece of the puzzle in place, RPI needed Union to beat Vassar on Saturday morning. A 4-1 Dutchwomen victory was in the books before RPI took to the field, but most of the players didn’t even know the game was before theirs. “I don’t think they were aware that it was an 11 am game,” said LaNoir.
“We’ve been the ones responsible for our own destinies, essentially, and that’s what we’ve been saying all along,” she added.
Skidmore stood at 11-3 entering Saturday’s game, with a 5-1 league mark. Their only league loss came to William Smith, a team that is still undefeated in league play. The Thoroughbreds dominated both ends of the field en route to a 5-1 victory over the Red Hawks.
Skidmore got two goals within the first 7:04, and added a third toward the end of the first half. Katie Hallaran got her first of the year at 2:04 in and Annie Ledyard got her 14th and 15th of the season later on. Ledyard’s 15 goals on the season rank her tied for second among Liberty League players.
Freshman forward Sara Stylinski brought the Red Hawks within two at the 30:36 mark with an unassisted goal, but Skidmore dominated the rest of the game. The Thoroughbreds added goals from Shalia Delea and Chelsea Lisaius in the second half to round out the scoring. Skidmore out-shot RPI 28-6 and outgained the Red Hawks in penalty corners 7-4.
“We needed every single person to have a great game,” said LaNoir. “A good, solid game, for us to really compete with Skidmore, as we do with most of the top teams in our league. And we didn’t have enough on at the same time.”
RPI wraps up its season with road games against Middlebury College today at 3:30 pm and St. Lawrence on Saturday. Middlebury, the national runner-up at the Division III level over the past two years, will pose a tough challenge for the Red Hawks.
“Middlebury’s going to be a huge game just because it’s a great competition. Middlebury has beaten us for the past three years,” said LaNoir. “We’re going into another game where we have nothing to lose.”
