The RPI field hockey team opened its 2008 campaign with a shutout home victory over the visiting Keene State Owls at Harkness Field on Saturday afternoon. Senior forward Sara Stylinki scored the only goal of the contest on a penalty corner in the second half, and freshman goalkeeper Briana Earle recorded a shutout in her first game at RPI.
Penalty corners proved to be the difference in the match, with the Red Hawks converting on one of their five for a goal while keeping the Owls scoreless on their seven attempts to begin the season with a 1-0 record.
In the first half, neither team was able to score, as RPI and Keene State battled to a 0-0 halftime draw. Neither goalie was challenged often, as Vikki Stoessel was forced to make just one save for the Owls while Earle needed to save just two for the Red Hawks. Overall, Keene State held a 5-3 advantage in shots.
Stylinski gave the Red Hawks the only goal they would need with less than 18 minutes to play in the contest. Sophomore Sandy Turnbull took a corner, passing the ball to Stylinski on the left side just outside the circle. Stylinski fired the ball into the goal for the score, and Turnbull received the assist on the play.
Stylinski, who was selected as the Liberty League Offensive Performer of the Week, explained after the game that on the corner, the team “tried to send it me, and I connected well, and Sandy got the assist. I got the goal and it doesn’t really matter who put it in, because we won the game.”
Earle had been forced to make five saves in the second half prior to the goal, but needed to stop just one more shot in the final 17 minutes and change to preserve the shutout and the victory for the Red Hawks. The goalie was chosen as the Liberty League Defensive Performer of the Week.
“Briana played very, very strong in net. She’s very quick and she can recover. She’s got a really strong clear,” said Red Hawks head coach Bridget LaNoir.
“Our two defenders back there, [junior] Joana [Aliprando] and [junior] Alex [Lamparski], they played super well. They’ve got great, great clears and they’ve got great, strong sticks,” continued LaNoir. “The two of them are just kind of the keystones behind our defense.”
Stylinski noted that the “defense was tremendous. It was Bri’s first game, first shutout. Alex and Jo were tremendous as well, picking up anything that went by … and it was just an all-around great effort.”
Overall, Earle had eight saves in the contest, while Stoessel had six.
This weekend, RPI will be on the road to take on the Montclair State University Red Hawks on Saturday and the William Paterson University Pioneers on Sunday. Both teams opened their seasons with shutout victories.
RPI has traveled to both Montclair State and William Paterson each of the last two seasons, but fell in all four games. According to LaNoir, the team will look to “just do one thing successful on the field after another—just make some good passes, get a couple goals after we do just one little thing well after another.”
