The Red Hawks field hockey team had an important weekend, with the opportunity to move up to first in the Liberty League, but the chance to fall all the way to fourth.
The first match-up of the weekend was against the playoff hopeful Yellowjackets of Rochester.
The Red Hawks were stung early by a quick Rochester goal. At 6:05, Rochester’s Erin Charnow scored an unassisted goal to give the ’Jackets a 1-0 lead.
Rochester goaltender Rachel Cahan made the one-goal lead hold up until the half, stopping all three shots that the Red Hawks put on goal.
The RPI offense exploded with 13 minutes remaining in the game. Sarah Salinger started the smorgasbord of scoring. Salinger drove home a good pass from Elisa Prange to tie the game at one.
Prange put the Red Hawks up for the first time two minutes later, when she scorched a shot past Cahan.
Captain Sondra Sherman extended the RPI lead by scoring a pair of goals less than a minute apart. The first came unassisted and the second on a penalty shot.
Rochester made a futile attempt at a comeback, but the three-goal lead was too much for the Yellowjackets to overcome. Rochester’s Krista Butler scored in the last three minutes of the game, but Amanda Lund and the Red Hawks’ defense killed the comeback and won the game 4-2.
The big win put the Red Hawks in a position to take first place away from the William Smith Herons. RPI and William Smith battled head-to-head for the right to host the Liberty League Tournament.
The Red Hawks contained the powerful Heron offense in the first period. Despite getting outshot 8-1 and outcornered 6-0, RPI managed to go into halftime tied.
William Smith finally connected at 43:27, when offensive leader Margaret Dolan scored off an assist from Brooke Atwood to put the first place Herons up 1-0.
Dolan found the back of the net again 13 minutes later, when she pushed a ball past Lund to extend the lead to two goals. Sophie Dennis got the assist on Dolan’s second goal.
Dennis proved to be a problem for the Red Hawks seven minutes later, when she scored unassisted to put the Herons up three.
Sherman tried to spark a comeback for RPI, and scored an unassisted goal at 66:43. The comeback ended there, though, as the Red Hawks fell 3-1.
With the split, the Red Hawks earned a tie for second place with the St. Lawrence Saints. They will take on the Saints at William Smith in the first round of the Liberty League Tournament November 6.
Today, the Red Hawks will take on Middlebury at Harkness Field. Game time is 7 pm.
