Coming off of two impressive late wins in its previous two games, the RPI women’s lacrosse team looked to stay on track on the road this weekend. On Friday, the women squared off against Rochester, and then returned to action the next day versus Hamilton.
On Friday, the Red Hawks grabbed the lead early in the first half (just 21 seconds into the contest) off of an unassisted goal from junior Morgan Wahl from 10 yards away. With the quick score it looked as if RPI would carry over the momentum from the past week.
Additionally, things seemed to be boding well as it would take 10 minutes for Rochester to get their offense going. When they did start scoring, however, it came in bunches. At the 19:25 mark, senior Heidi Davies put home the Yellowjackets’ first score, and sophomore Abby Woodward gave them their first lead of 2-1 four minutes later when teammate Amanda Case found her with an assist near the goal.
Sophomore Kerri Clark continued her hot play for RPI, netting home an unassisted shot at the 14:24 mark to tie the game at two, but unfortunately, Rochester caught fire. The Yellowjackets closed out the first half’s final 12 minutes with four goals including Davies’ second, two from senior Christina Montano, and one from sophomore Erica Gelb as Rochester took a solid 6-2 lead into the break.
When play resumed, the Yellowjackets picked up where they left off, scoring twice right off the bat, as sophomore Lindsay Dakin put home a pass from senior Laura Giusto, and then a free position shot, as Rochester extended their lead to 8-2.
Junior Natalie White scored for RPI at the 17:55 mark, but things would only get worse for the Red Hawks. Before the game was over, Rensselaer would score twice more, one from senior Andrea Flynn, and another from Wahl. However, Rochester was able to score four more times and won by a final score of 12-5.
Both teams struggled with offensive consistency, and each side had 27 turnovers. Wahl led the way for RPI with her two scores and she added an assist. Flynn, White, and Clark were the other scorers, all with one. Montano and Davies each had six scores for Rochester, and Woodward and Dakin both added two.
Saturday proved to be another tough night for the Rensselaer women, who were again on the road, this time visiting sixth-ranked Hamilton (11-2). To open the game, the Continentals scored nine consecutive goals. Sophomore Kaillie Briscoe and junior Nicole Tetreault guided the Hamilton offense, as both netted three of the nine goals.
Clark put RPI on the board on a free-position shot at the 15:34 mark. Wahl and freshman Sam Fennessey both scored for the Red Hawks before halftime as well, but Hamilton added three more of their own, and took a 12-3 advantage into the break.
In the second half, it was all Hamilton, and Rensselaer failed to score. The Continentals added an additional seven goals and took the contest by a score of 19-3.
RPI committed 33 fouls compared to Hamilton’s 13, while turnovers were fairly close at 25-21. The Red Hawks were just 2-7 from free position shots, and were out-shot 37-18 as they struggled to get opportunities to score.
Clark, Wahl, and Fennessey all scored once for the Red Hawks. Tetreault led the way for the Continentals with five goals and three assists. She now leads her team with 40 goals and 54 points. Senior Liz Longley added three goals and Briscoe scored three times as well, as the entire Hamilton offense clicked as a solid unit.
After the difficult weekend, the Red Hawks’ record on the season now stands at 4-8. The RPI women have only one game remaining on their schedule. They will look to turn things around on Thursday when they take on Skidmore, home at Harkness Field, at 4 pm.
