Women's Lacrosse

The women’s lacrosse team finished its season finale with a loss to the University of Rochester Yellowjackets on the road. After giving up a 5-5 tie in the first half, the Red Hawks fell by a score of 12-6 this past Friday, a loss which placed RPI at 7-7 overall on the season and 3-5 in the Liberty League. The Yellowjackets improved to 6-8 overall and 2-5 in the league.

Rochester broke the tie with three unanswered goals in the final four minutes of the first half. Senior attack Mary Kate Hannan led the offense, netting two goals in the tie-breaker, as classmate Megan Jenkins rounded out the scoring for the half. The Yellowjackets were able to take a 5-1 lead within the opening 10 minutes of play, off goals from Hannan, seniors Lindsay Dankin and Abby Woodward, junior Amanda Case, and freshman Niki Holmes.

Rensselaer again tied the game with four straight goals, including two from sophomore attack Stephanie Caouette, before Rochester rallied for three more before the end of the half.

Senior Emily Donowick scored RPI’s only goal of the second half at 13:39, as the Yellowjackets netted four more goals for the eventual win. Caouette led the Red Hawks with three goals, while sophomore Afton Marshall and junior Whitney Kukol tallied single marks.

Yellowjacket senior goalkeeper Leslie Dube finished with seven saves for the win, while junior goaltender Ariana Hood made eight stops for RPI.

The Red Hawks finished out the regular season without a bid to the Liberty League playoffs, but they look forward to success in upcoming seasons.

Track & Field

Harkness Field played host to the Capital District Classic, in which the men’s and women’s track & field teams saw strong performances in the non-scoring meet this past Saturday. In addition to RPI, 12 other schools participated in the day-long event.

Sophomore Hermanus Van Der Schijff took the top spot in the men’s 200-meter dash with a time of 22.19, while also finishing third in the 100-meter dash with a time of 11.35. Also in the track events, junior Kyle Barden finished first in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 55.06.

RPI dominated the men’s hammer throw, taking all three podium positions. Junior Erik Whiting placed first with a distance of 49.32 meters, while sophomore Ja’Mar Watson placed second with a distance of 49.12 meters and freshman Cal Luby took third place with a mark of 45.37 meters. Freshman Sage D’Aprile stole first place in the javelin, throwing a distance of 52.82 meters and rounding out the day for the men’s team.

On the women’s team, junior Rachel Guillot took the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 1:05.08, while sophomore Danielle Cohen took top marks in the 800-meter race with a time of 2:23.89. In addition, the team of Guillot, seniors Kristiina Baker and Sarah Hinz, and junior Cassie Fortini placed first in the 4x100 relay with a time of 50.76.

For the field events, freshman Lindsey Dubas placed first in the high jump with a height of 1.58 meters. In addition, she also placed second in the long jump spanning a distance of 4.90 meters. Senior Sarah Petzold earned a NCAA provisional mark in the hammer throw, placing second with a distance of 47.70 meters. This was Petzold’s first career provisional mark. Also earning an NCAA mark—her first of the season—was sophomore Connor Ahlborn, who placed third in the hammer throw with a distance of 47.69 meters.

The following day, three members of the Engineers’ squads were selected to participate in the New York State Collegiate Track Conference decathlon and heptathlon, hosted by Cornell University.

Sophomore Garrett Harms finished second overall in the decathlon, earning RPI 13 points for the state meet, which will be held next weekend. Harms was the top Liberty League performer, earning 5.715 points on the day, including two wins: in the pole vault with a height of 3.70 meters, and in the 400-meter dash with a time of 51.11. Harms placed within the top five for all 10 events.

Also competing for RPI was freshman Alex Morin, who finished fourth with 5,187 points. Morin finished third in the 110-meter hurdles, just behind Harms, with a time of 16.27, as well as a fourth place finish in the pole vault with a height of 3.10 meters, and another fourth-place finish in the javelin with a throwing distance of 38.52 meters.

The only representative for the women’s team was sophomore Missy Steciuk, who participated in the heptathlon. Steciuk finished seventh overall, with 3,243 points. She posted three top-five finishes on the day, including her best finish—third in the 800-meter race, with a time of 2:26.07.

Both the men’s and women’s teams will head into this weekend’s state meet with extra points, as the men earned 13 on the weekend, and the women three. The event, which is hosted by Saint Lawrence University, will take place in Canton, N.Y., this Friday and Saturday.

Golf

The Red Hawks finished second of six teams on the weekend, with a combined score of 641 at the Oswego Spring Invitational this past weekend. Leading the team was freshman Matt Lussier, who earned medalist honors after finishing first of the 32 golfers at the event.

Lussier shot a combined 148 at the meet, including his best round of 72 on the first day. Sophomore Eric Fritz, who shot 157, finished sixth at the tournament.

Other notable performances for the golf team included freshman Taylor Wetherby, who tied for 15th with a score of 168, and classmate Brad Pierce, who finished in 17th place with a score of 169. Senior Ben Mercado placed 20th, with a score of 171.

The Oswego Invitational was the golf team’s final meet of the season. It posted six top-five finishes in nine tournaments this year.