Box Score Box Score

TROY, N.Y. - Kelly Blackhurst had a hat trick and Christine Kemp had two goals and an assist to lead the Skidmore College field hockey team to a 7-2 win over Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI). Rensselaer, which got both goals from senior Sandy Turnbull, falls to 3-9 overall and 1-4 in the Liberty League. The ninth-ranked Thoroughbreds are now 10-1, including nine straight wins, and 5-0.

Skidmore struck first as Blackhurst (North River, NY/Johnsburg), a freshman, scored just 2:30 into the game. Junior Annie Rosencrans (Riverside, CT/Greenwich) earned the assist after she took at shot that banked off the right corner of the cage. Blackhurst buried the rebound past Engineers goalkeeper Briana Earle (Baldwinsville, NY/C.W. Baker).

Rensselaer wasted little time in making it a 1-1 game as Turnbull (Upperville, VA/Chatham Hall) took a pass from sophomore Alissa Peterson (Gaithersburg, MD/Quince Orchard) while standing near the goal line to the goaltender's left and shot the ball past senior keeper Liz Catinella (Sudbury, MA/Lincoln Sudbury). The goal came off a penalty corner.

Turnbull put the Engineers ahead with her team-leading seventh goal of the year when she carried the ball into the circle and fired a long shot to the far side at the 11:54 mark. Sage Foley (Sturbridge, MA/Tantasqua Regional), who chipped the ball to Turnbull, was credited with the assist. Skidmore needed just 28 seconds to tie the game as senior Brittany O'Brien (Ridgefield, CT/Ridgefield) carried the ball down the right side and crossed it to the middle, where Kemp (Putnam Valley, NY/Putnam Valley) was waiting to jam it over the goal line.

Kemp added her second of the game – her 13th of the season – off a turnover in the circle at 25:24 and Blackhurst made it 4-2 when she scored with just 14 seconds left in the first half.

In the second half, Blackhurst tallied on a rebound of a pair of O'Brien shots at 41:58 for a three-goal margin. Senior Katie Potter (Rumson, NJ/Rumson Fair-Haven) then scored on a penalty stroke at 54:39 and junior Lauren Tobias (New City, NY/Clarkstown South) tapped in a goal-mouth pass from Kemp just over five minutes later (59:50).

Catinella stopped three shots in 57:32 for Skidmore, which held a 38-11 edge in shots, including 26-5 on goal. Earle made 18 saves for the Engineers.

Rensselaer is back on the field next Friday, traveling to Utica for a 7pm match against the Pioneers. Skidmore is also in action on Friday, hosting Babson in Saratoga Springs at 3:30pm.