The women’s soccer team pulled out a double-overtime win over NYU on September 18 to remain undefeated and followed it up with a 4-1 win at home versus Hamilton College on Thursday, improving their record to 4-0.
The Red Hawks were behind twice in the game at NYU, but rallied to tie it up each time before Captain Amanda Gyllstrom cashed in on her first shot of the year—a free kick that came three minutes before the contest would have ended in a draw—and gave RPI a 3-2 victory. The loss for the Violets was their second straight in double overtime.
The goals by NYU were the first allowed by the Red Hawks this year; Goalkeeper Andrea Hamill now has 17 saves on the season.
Junior Susan Gonyea sent the game into overtime with less than two minutes on the clock by scoring off of a corner kick from Gyllstrom. Gonyea also assisted Forward Heather Bauby on the Red Hawks’ first score, which tied the game at one goal apiece.
The game versus Hamilton was originally scheduled for September 14, but was rescheduled to Thursday after Dr. Jackson cancelled all RPI athletic events for that weekend in the wake of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
The Red Hawks had an easier time with the Continentals—their first conference match of the season—getting off 22 shots on a somewhat porous Hamilton defense. Rensselaer’s first score came on a booming 45-yard shot by junior Ann Larsen that slipped through the hands of Hamilton ‘keeper Brenna Chiaputti.
RPI scored two more goals in rapid succession roughly midway through the second half to seal the win. Midfielder Danielle Schlegel’s 25-yard shot off of a side volley found the back of the net for her third goal of the year, and sophomore Laura Feeney tallied her team-leading fourth goal of the season on a breakaway two minutes later.
Hamilton came back with a goal in the game’s 68th minute—the Continentals’ Paula Dady put her own rebound back to put her side on the board. After that, though, the Red Hawk defense shut Hamilton down, and freshman Anne Drames’ goal with three minutes remaining was simply icing on the cake.
The team played at New Paltz Tuesday afternoon, but the results of that match were not available at the time of publication. The Red Hawks host a pair of conference games against North Country rivals this weekend. Clarkson comes to Troy on Friday at 4 pm, and St. Lawrence visits Ned Harkness Field Saturday at 2 pm. The Golden Knights are 4-2-2 on the season, and the Saints have a 4-3-1 record.
