Cross Country

This past weekend both the men’s and women’s cross country teams competed at the Saint Rose Golden Knight Joust held in Loudonville, N.Y., each earning top marks in their respective fields. The men placed first of 12, while the women were first out of a field of 13 teams.

For the men, sophomore Chris Frank finished with a team-high time of 27:24 on the five-mile course, good for placing seventh out of 137. Also finishing within the top 10 was senior Bryan Murphy, who placed ninth with a time of 27:29. Eight other Red Hawk runners finished in the top 25, good for collecting only 50 points. Bentley College, placed second with 23 more points.

Junior Kathryn Markowitz placed fifth in a field of 134 in the three-mile women’s race, with a time of 19:25. Classmate Erin Kyle placed ninth with a time of 19:55, narrowly edging out freshman Christine Koch by two seconds. The women’s team collected 70 points, just one less than second-place Williams College.

“I was impressed with how Chris Frank and Bryan Murphy moved up throughout the race and with the efforts of all three freshmen [Jeff Corelli, Brandon Kieft, and JP Reddinger] in their first ever 8 kilometer race.

“On the women’s side, Kathryn Markowitz and Erin Kyle were team leaders for the entire race, and Christine Koch did a great job of getting faster and passing people throughout the race,” said head coach Colin Tory.

Following the meet, the Liberty League named three runners to its weekly awards. Frank was named men’s Performer of the Week and freshman Jeff Corelli was named Rookie of the Week for the men. Markowitz was named Performer of the Week on the women’s side.

Cross country hits the trails again this weekend in Roxbury, Mass. as they compete in the Engineers Cup, hosted by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “This weekend’s Engineers Cup—with MIT and Worcester Polytechnic Institute—is one of the traditional meets on our schedule. It’s a different experience being in a tri-meet than a larger invitational. MIT is traditionally a very strong team, and they will be a great challenge. We will continue to focus on working together and running in strong packs. Franklin Park is a great cross country course and fun place to run,” said Tory.

Women's Tennis

The women’s tennis team remains undefeated on the season as they defeated Hartwick College by a 7-2 margin on Thursday evening. Saturday’s match against SUNY Brockport was postponed due to inclement weather.

Junior Christine Roe stays perfect on the season, defeating sophomore Jen Lin in two sets. Other RPI singles victories included junior Progga Das over junior Betsy Breazneil in two sets, freshman Cora Wigen over freshman Callie McAloon in two sets, sophomore Jessica Sitzer over sophomore Kim Post in three sets, and freshman Zasia Casterline over sophomore Carly Jesset in three sets.

In the doubles field, Das and Wigen defeated Breazneil and Lin, and Roe and Sitzer defeated Neely and McAloon.

Prior to the postponement of the match against Brockport due to rain RPI was commanding a 4-2 lead.

RPI women’s tennis returns to action this weekend at the Tennis Hall of Fame Tournament, being held in Hartford, Conn. Both Saturday and Sunday’s matches begin at 9 am.

Field Hockey

RPI’s field hockey team split a weekend trip to New Jersey in two close-fought games, losing to the Montclair State University Red Hawks 4-3, and defeating the William Patterson University Pioneers 3-2. The Red Hawks finish the week out with an overall record of 2-1.

Saturday’s match pitted RPI against Montclair State. The cherry and white took the lead early as junior Kristiina Baker capitalized on a long breakaway pass from classmate Megan McNamara just under five minutes into the game. Montclair added their first goal of four straight at 11:07 with a shot by junior Rebecca Dobiesz. MSU sophomore Diana Colombo would add two tallies to her name, and junior Megan Pietrunti would add another as well.

With a drive to the finish, RPI scored two more goals in the second half, including a chip shot eight yards out by senior Lisa Pak at 48:44. The final goal of the game came with less than 12 minutes remaining, as RPI converted on a midfield turnover resulting in a three-on-naught rush. Junior Margaret Chowaniee fed a pass to freshman Morgan Danner to bring it within one, but it wasn’t enough, as Montclair goaltender Emina Udnja stopped shots by Chowaniee and sophomore Sandy Turnbull in the final seconds of play. MSU remains undefeated with the victory, with a record of 2-0.

“Montclair is a solid team year in and year out, and is consistently reaching post-season and in tough games against big name programs. We came out strong on Saturday caught them off guard by scoring first. They battled back and scored a couple of quick rebound goals but we were resilient and never gave up,” head coach Bridget LaNoir explained.

Sunday afternoon the Red Hawks made the short drive over to Wayne, N.J., to face-off against William Patterson. Turnbull converted on her blocked shots of the previous day, adding two goals in the win. Freshman goaltender Sarah Burcher made three saves in her first appearance of the season.

Turnbull began scoring at 16:43 off a corner kick roughly eight yards out from the goal. The Pioneers tied it up 10 minutes later at 26:01, as senior Meghan Hall added an unassisted tally from six yards out. Seconds before closing out the first half, the Red Hawks reclaimed their lead, as sophomore Jessica Corrigan knocked in a pass from freshman Emily Morin.

William Patterson quickly came backwith junior Chelsea Winkelspecht’s goal 18 seconds into the latter half, but was unable to maintain the tie as Turnbull added her second of the game off of a pass from Danner with 11:59 remaining.

RPI field hockey goes back into action later this week, with a game Wednesday the 10th at Hartwick College, play beginning at 7 pm, and returning home to Harkness Field on September 13 against SUNY Cortland, beginning at 2 pm. “After Saturday’s game we acknowledged some things that we can clean up and are continuing to focus on these things this week as we face a couple of tough opponents in Hartwick and Cortland,” said LaNoir.