With the most important part of its season approaching, the field hockey team picked up momentum with a decisive 3-1 win over Oneonta State. Thursday’s victory improved the Red Hawks to 3-3 overall on the season, with their first league games coming up this weekend, while the Red Dragons fell to 2-3.
Senior Michelle Clemente put RPI on the board 31:21 into the first half when Sophomore Megan McNamara passed her the ball in front of the net. Freshman Elsie Russell put the Hawks up by two when she found the goal at 40:07 in the second half. Twenty minutes later, the Dragons answered with one of their own and brought the game down to a one-goal margin. Fortunately for RPI, that was all that was needed for the win, even though an insurance goal would be gained late in the game when Clemente scored again from senior Michelle Roy’s pass to her.
The Red Hawks were again strong in net, with two saves from sophomore keeper Kate Williams.
“We dominated the entire game, with a couple rough spots that we quickly realized and changed to return the game to our intense level of play,” said freshman Sage Foley of Thursday’s play.
“We really stepped it up in the game against Oneonta and improved in a lot of aspects of the game that we had trouble with the previous weekend in N.J.,” said sophomore forward Shaina Feldman of the numerous improvements already seen by many this season. “We did a better job capitalizing on our scoring opportunities, but need to improve even further with league play starting this weekend,” she added.
“In the beginning of the season, we talked about wanting to be a strong passing team,” said Clemente. “We really connected our passes during Thursday’s game and it was a great start to accomplishing this goal.”
“As a team, we improved our game play since that last game and were able to incorporate what we learned in practice during the week,” said Foley. “We practiced several specific techniques throughout the week and it was exciting to be able to use them in the game.”
In a good sign of things to come, the freshmen seemed to agree that the adjustment to the collegiate level of play is coming quickly. “The big difference between high school field hockey and college field hockey is the speed of the game,” said freshman Marissa Fabrizio. “But I think all of us freshmen have gotten used to it because of the upperclassmen who have pushed us.”
“As a freshman, I am quickly adjusting to play on the RPI team. All of the girls are nice and welcoming, which made it easier to adjust to the change in the level of play,” stated Foley. “Personally, I’m still working on my confidence on the field during games.”
The team travels to Saratoga Springs and Schenectady to play league rivals Skidmore and Union, respectively, this weekend. “Skidmore and Union are going to be tough, but we definitely have the skills and depth to our team to beat them,” said Feldman.
“We have a huge weekend coming up,” agreed Clemente. “We play our biggest rivals, Skidmore and Union. These are two games we look forward to all year.”
“The next couple of games are league games, so they will be tough and we need to by psyched for them,” said Foley. “The team is able to hype themselves and each other up for every game. If we all play our best, the team can achieve so much. We’ve had several moments in different games in which the team was working together extremely well, passes were connecting, everyone was communicating, and it was smooth playing. We need to get hyped up, but at the same time, be relaxed and calm and take it one game at a time, adjusting to the needs of each game to play the best game we can.”
As the team heads for the straight away in its schedule, it will look again to take control of the Liberty League early, starting with its first league games this weekend. The Red Hawks return to Harkness Field the following Wednesday to play a game against Vassar, followed by a weekend against Hamilton and St. Lawrence.
