Box Score
Box Score

TROY, N.Y. – Junior Sam Fennessey (Gansevoort, NY/Saratoga Springs) scored with 6:23 remaining and the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) women's lacrosse team held off a late charge by Western New England College (WNEC) to pick up a 14-13 non-conference victory on Tuesday. The Red Hawks improve to 7-6 overall while the Golden Bears drop to 9-6 on the season.

Down 6-5 after the first 30 minutes of play, the Red Hawks battled back to tie it up on senior Emily Donowick's (West Seneca, NY/Nichols School) second tally of the game just 19 seconds into the second half. RPI gained a one-goal advantage minutes later, but WNEC's Michelle Thompson (Wilbraham, MA/Minnechaug) scored to make it 7-all with 26:41 left in the contest.

The teams traded goals once again and found themselves deadlocked at 8-8 before the homestanding Red Hawks broke open the game, scoring five straight goals for a 13-8 lead with 11:07 to go. Sophomore Stephanie Caouette (Wynantskill, NY/Columbia) led the charge, tallying two goals while assisting on two others during the span.

Despite the five-goal deficit, the Golden Bears refused to back down as Thompson and sophomore Jeanmarie Barbato (Huntington Station, NY/Walt Whitman) posted back-to-back free position tallies and Nicole Poli (Medfield, MA/Medfield) scored unassisted to pull the visitors back to within two (13-11) with just 6:47 left in the game.

Fennessey's unassisted tally gave RPI a slight edge with under seven minutes remaining and the Red Hawks held off the Golden Bears in the closing seconds, despite a pair of goals to bring the score to within one.

Both netminders made a number of outstanding saves throughout the second half as RPI's Ariana Hood (Severn, MD/Old Mill) stopped 10 shots while Western New England's Marissa Bonitatibus (Yorktown Heights, NY/Yorktown) posted 17 saves, including 10 in the second half.

The Red Hawks saw seven different players tally in the game led by Fennessey's three goals. Caouette finished with two goals and two assists while Donowick also added two goals and two assists. Sophomore Afton Marshall (Windham, NH/Salem) posted two goals and an assist while senior Kerri Clark (Saratoga Springs, NY/Saratoga Springs) and junior Whitney Kukol (Johnson City, NY/Johnson City) each recorded two goals.

For Western New England, junior Lindsey Fenton (Pelham, MA/Amherst Regional) scored a game-best four goals to bring her season total to 49. Barbato added two goals and two assists while Thompson and Poli each tallied two goals. Three others scored a goal each for the Golden Bears.

RPI closes out its regular season schedule on Friday when it travels to Rochester for a 4pm Liberty League contest against the Yellowjackets. The Golden Bears also conclude their regular season season this week, heading to Commonwealth Coast Conference rival Nichols College for a 7pm game on Wednesday.