The Rensselaer Red Hawks women’s soccer team continued its disappointing, winless season, falling to the William Smith Herons 2-0 and the nationally-ranked Hamilton Continentals 6-1.
On Friday, the Red Hawks traveled to Geneva, N.Y. to take on the Herons. William Smith controlled most of the game, out-shooting RPI 22-4.
In the first half and the first 40 minutes of the second half, sophomore goaltender Jackie Gabriele and the rest of the Red Hawk defense were up to the task, stopping the Heron offense from taking the lead.
In the 85th minute, William Smith midfielder Heather Phillip finally broke the RPI back line, knocking home the rebound off an Alexandra Rieben shot.
Phillip recorded her second goal of the game 25 seconds later, when Laura Burnett-Kurie fed a perfect pass through the box to a wide open Phillip, who blasted a shot past Gabriele.
Nikki Dudley made three saves in the win for the 6-2-2 Herons, while Gabriele recorded eight saves for the Red Hawks.
Saturday, RPI faced the 14th-ranked Continentals at home in Hamilton, N.Y. RPI struck first, five minutes into the game. Senior Adele Godfrey-Certner put the Red Hawks up 1-0 when she beat Katie Plummer on RPI’s only shot of the game. It was only the third goal this season the Continentals have surrendered.
Hamilton would take over the game from there, recording 21 shots in the game. Two and a half minutes after Godfrey-Certner’s goal, Liz Roberts beat Gabriele to tie the game at one. Kristine Cupertino and Eileen Fisher also tallied goals in the first half to give the Continentals a 3-1 halftime lead.
In the second half, Cupertino recorded her second goal of the game and Jamie Fried and Mara Dropkin-Frank scored late goals to give Hamilton the 6-1 blowout victory.
Gabriele made seven saves for the Red Hawks who are now 0-8-1 overall and 0-5 in Liberty League this season while the Continentals improved to 7-0-1.
Rensselaer finishes their six-game road trip tonight when they travel to Oneonta, N.Y. to take on the Hartwick Hawks at 7 pm. The Red Hawks return home to start a season-ending five-game home stand October 22 against the Skidmore Thoroughbreds.
