The Rensselaer women’s soccer team split last week’s Capital District and UCAA contests, shutting out the Skidmore Thoroughbreds 1-0 on Friday and being shutout themselves by the undefeated Union Dutchwomen 4-0 the next day.
In the game against Skidmore, RPI put the pressure on the Thoroughbreds early and often, getting nine shots off at Skidmore keeper Kristin Alphin in the first half. The Red Hawks’ pressure paid off eight and a half minutes in, when off a throw-in by junior Betsy Farmer, senior Laura Feeney collected a loose ball and floated a shot from just outside the left corner of the 18-yard box over the head of Alphin and right under the crossbar to give Rensselaer a 1-0 lead.
The Red Hawks continued to put pressure on the Thoroughbreds but were not able to find the back of the net the rest of the game. The RPI defense did a good job keeping the Skidmore offense from getting into the Red Hawk zone for much of the game and when they did, junior Regina Primm was up to the task of keeping the ball out of the net.
RPI outshot Skidmore 15-7 in the game. Primm finished four saves while Alphin had five saves.
On Saturday, the Red Hawks traveled to Schenectady to take on the nationally ranked Dutchwomen.
Union showed why they are ranked fifth in the nation by coming out of the gate and completely dominating the game. The Dutchwomen got three goals in the first half as Corinne Henessy off an assist from Erika Eisenhut, Brittany Cressman off an assist from Stephanie Mole, and Mole off an assist from Stephanie Cronan all put balls past Primm.
Cressman put her second goal of the game into the back of the net in midway through second half to close out scoring. Union outshot Rensselaer 25-4. Primm finished with seven saves and Dutchwoman keeper Julie Gawronski had five saves.
The Red Hawks only game this week is tonight versus Hartwick at 7 pm at the Harkness Field.
