In a matchup of Capital District favorites, the women’s lacrosse team finished the weekend home opener 1-1, losing to the No. 14 Union College Dutchwomen by a score of 12-8 on Friday, before redeeming themselves on a rainy Saturday afternoon in a 12-11 overtime victory against Skidmore College. The Red Hawks finished the week with an overall record of 4-5 and 1-3 in the Liberty League, while the Dutchwomen improve to 3-2 overall and 1-0 in the league, and the Thoroughbreds drop to 5-3 overall and 1-1 in conference play.
“It was great to finally have a home game this weekend,” said junior Sam Fennessey. “We played two really challenging games and it was a good opportunity for growth for our team. Union is always tough, but we played them better than I’ve seen in my three years here. I think we proved to ourselves that we could run with the best of the Liberty League. The Skidmore win was a welcome lift after a five-game losing streak.”
Despite holding a 7-6 lead heading into the second half, the Red Hawks were unable to hold on as the Dutchwomen tied the game at seven, and added five more goals to take the 12-8 victory.
Setting up to the end of the half, Union started out with a 2-1 lead in the opening 10 minutes of play. However, RPI responded by five straight goals to pull ahead, 6-2, with 10 minutes remaining in the half. Freshman Madeline Sisson—who earlier tied the game at one—added one more tally to Rensselaer’s mark with five minutes remaining in the half. Five minutes proved to be plenty of time, as Union junior Jill LaForest netted two goals in a three-minute span to pull within three points, followed by goals by sophomore Melissa Hine and classmate Kristin Joyce to cut the deficit to one.
Union tied the game at the start of the second off a free position goal by junior Kellin Skurek, although it was quickly followed by Sisson’s second of the day. That is as close as the Red Hawks would get, however, as Hine netted another goal for the Dutchwomen followed by goals from Joyce and junior Allie Cuozzo to pull the goal count to 12.
For the Dutchwomen, Joyce tallied three goals and an assist, while Cuozzo and LaForest each netted two. Sophomore goalkeep Cat Ruggerio made three saves in the win.
The Red Hawks were led by sophomore Stephanie Caouette, who had two goals, as well as classmate Afton Marshall, who netted one and assisted on two, and Fennessey, who had a goal and an assist. Junior goaltender Ariana Hood finished the night with 10 saves.
“We played very well against the No. 14 ranked Union team, moved the ball quickly and showed a lot of heart, unfortunately we came up short,” said Caouette.
Looking for revenge in less-than-hospitable weather, Rensselaer overcame strong winds and drizzly, muddy conditions to knock back the Skidmore Thoroughbreds in overtime.
RPI came out to play, tallying the first three goals of the game off markers by junior Whitney Kukol, senior Kerri Clark, and Marshall within the opening 10 minutes of play. Thoroughbred freshman Lauren Madden netted one for Skidmore, but was quickly countered by a goal from Caouette before Skidmore sophomore Kimberly Segalas pulled the visitors within two with eight minutes remaining in the first half.
The Red Hawks netted three unanswered goals for their largest lead of the day, 7-2, with less than four minutes left before break. Skidmore was able to add two goals late in the half, but was still unable to match RPI’s tenacity.
Carrying that momentum into the second half, Skidmore added two more goals to open the frame, pulling within one. Both teams exchanged goals throughout the half, until Segalas tied the game at 10 for Skidmore, who had previously been trailing the first 56 minutes of play. Caouette regained the lead for the Red Hawks with 52 seconds left on the clock, but sophomore Lindsey Stavola knotted the game once against with 13 seconds remaining in regulation play.
Heading into overtime, Marshall proved RPI to be the better of two teams, taking advantage of a free position opportunity directly in front of the Thoroughbreds’ net to bury a shot for the lead at 2:43 of the extra frame. Rensselaer was able to maintain control of the ball for the majority of the remaining 3:17 of overtime to hold on to the lead and leave with the win. “It felt great to know I helped our team to a close game against Skidmore. I know we were all very excited to pull out such a close win,” explained Marshall.
“We played really well together as a team this weekend,” said Fennessey. “You can’t pull out a one-goal overtime win like that without everyone. It was a real team effort.”
Caouette, who netted three of RPI’s final five goals, finished the night with six points (four goals, two assists), and Kukol and Clark each tallied two goals and an assist. Hood came out with the win, posting 11 saves, while Skidmore senior goaltender Courtney DeStefano recorded 16 saves in the loss.
“This weekend our team did a great job of moving the ball on offense and waiting for the right chance to go to cage to score. Our defense came up huge this weekend as well, working as a team and keeping both Union and Skidmore’s players away from our goalie,” said Caouette. “In both games the whole team was working as a unit to move the ball up the field in transition and also dropping back on defense to win the ball back. If I could change anything it would be to beat Union. We had the chance to do it and we were playing really well, we just needed to keep up the strength we had in the first half in the second half.”
The Red Hawks remain at home this weekend, hosting North County rivals Clarkson University this Friday at 4 pm and St. Lawrence University this Saturday at 2 pm, with both games being played at Renwyck Field. “These will be a tough pair of games for us,” said Marshall. “We have our senior day on Saturday against St. Lawrence, so there will be added pressure to win for our seniors. After practicing this week, I think we will be in great standing to take on both teams.”
Fennessey agreed: “Clarkson and St. Lawrence always prove to be tough games, especially back-to-back, but if we go out there, play our game, and really go for it, we have an excellent chance of sweeping this weekend.”
