The women’s soccer team was upset by fifth-seed Hamilton College in the New York State Women’s Collegiate Athletic Association tournament this weekend, but rallied on Sunday to defeat the Brewers of Vassar College in the consolation game, earning a third-place finish overall.
The top-seeded Red Hawks advanced to the tournament semifinals by shutting out a scrappy St. John Fisher squad, 1-0, on October 23 at Harkness Field. The game’s only score came on a highly controversial goal by senior Jill Vanis with 15 minutes remaining in the game.
Amanda Gyllstrom, a co-captain for RPI, booted a corner kick in front of the Cardinals’ goal, where Vanis and Fisher Goalie Cathryn DeCecco converged on the ball. Vanis managed to knock the ball away from DeCecco and into the net. The goal was allowed despite arguments from the Cardinal bench that DeCecco had possession of the ball—if a goalkeeper has control of the ball, it is illegal for another player to knock it away from her. The officials ruled that DeCecco had not yet controlled the ball, and the Red Hawks made that single goal stand up for the win.
Saturday’s game against Hamilton was a very tough loss for Rensselaer. Though the Red Hawks outshot the Continentals 11-8, the play of Hamilton’s Jen Munoz proved to be the difference—she stopped seven shots and shut RPI out for the full 90 minutes. The Continentals got an early score from Kathryn Rose and added an insurance goal midway through the second half on an Anna Arnold kick, defeating the Red Hawks by the score of 2-0.
In Sunday’s consolation match, the Red Hawks squandered a 2-0 halftime lead, but got some help from veteran Forward Heather Bauby, who knocked in a pass from freshman Jessica Chetuck with under three minutes remaining to give RPI an emotional victory over the Brewers.
The Red Hawks got on the board early, with Gyllstrom, a senior defender, scoring just two minutes into the contest on a free kick. Chetuck padded the lead seven minutes later with a header into the goal—for her efforts over the weekend, she was named UCAA Rookie of the Week.
The Brewers got on the board midway through the second half when Heather Zaimes put back a rebound, closing the gap to one.
Vassar then tied the game up with 7:33 remaining on a crafty desperation play. The Brewers brought their goalie, Sarah Combs, all the way up into the RPI penalty area on a corner kick, and the extra player proved to be the difference, as Combs headed the ball in to knot the game at two, setting the stage for Bauby’s decisive goal five minutes later.
The Red Hawks’ performance has also earned them a bid in the six-team ECAC tournament, to be held this weekend. RPI is seeded second behind St. Lawrence, the winning team at the state tournament; however, the Saints are unable to host games this weekend, meaning that the conference semifinals and finals will be held at Harkness Field. The Red Hawks will face the winner of the Brockport-Vassar match at 11 am on Saturday; if RPI plays the Brewers, it will be the third match of the season between the two teams. St. Lawrence will play either Ithaca or Geneseo at 1:30 pm on Saturday, and the ECAC championship will be decided on Sunday at 1 pm.
