Box Score | RPI Athletics on Facebook

TROY, N.Y. - Junior Megan Jones scored two goals, including the eventual game-winner, and the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) field hockey team defeated SUNY New Paltz, 4-2, in a non-league game at Harkness Field. Rensselaer has now won two straight games and three of their last four to improve to 9-7. The Hawks fall to 9-7.

The Engineers jumped out to an early lead when it took advantage of their first penalty corner. Sophomore Taylor Clink (Binghamton, NY / Whtney Point) collected the injection and fired a shot on goal that was stopped by junior goalie Megan Gangewere (Nazareth, PA / Nazareth Area). Colleen Morris (Pound Ridge, NJ / King Low Heywood Thomas) followed up with a shot of her own that was also saved but the ball deflected to Clink, who scored her fifth of the season. Clink took a shot that hit off a defender and caromed into the cage just 4:53 into the contest. 
 
Clink nearly doubled the lead when she drilled a shot off a corner solidly off the left post with approximately 20 minutes left in the half.
 
The best chance for New Paltz in the first half came with about six minutes remaining when sophomore Maggie Cottrell (Pittsford, NY / Pittsford Sutherland) made her way down the right side and around to the low right corner, where she centered the ball, but it rolled through the circle untouched. The visitors later had three consecutive corners in which they generated shots on each, but sophomore goalie Rachel Kaufman (Morristown, NJ / Morristown) was equal to all three attempts.
 
Kaufman finished with four first half saves and Gangewere made five stops. Both teams had four penalty corners in the first 35 minutes.
 
The score remained 1-0 until the 20:58 mark of the second half when Jones (Stevensville, MD / Kent Island) scored on a rebound for her fifth goal of the season.
 
Sophomore Mikaela DiBello (Mahopac, NY / Mahopac) nearly put the Engineers ahead by three goals with 18 minutes remaining in the second when she had a clear breakaway but Gangewere forced her wide and DiBello's shot hit the outside of the cage.
 
The Hawks countered and got on the board less than three minutes later when freshman Kaitlyn Gunter (Schuylerville, NY / Schuylerville) scored after a strong individual effort in which she kept multiple defenders at bay and scored around Kaufman. The tally was her fourth of the year.
 
Jones quickly put RPI back up by two goals when she finished a cross crease feed by freshman Nessa Costa (San Diego, CA / Del Norte) with 10:45 to play. Costa carried the ball down the right side on a two-on-one and found Jones, who lifted a shot into the top left corner.
 
Gunter struck again with 5:30 remaining when she collected a loose ball off a blocked shot and put it in the back of the net. The Hawks continued to pressure, but could not even things before DiBello scored on a rush with under a second left. She leads the team with nine goals and 24 points.

Kaufman earned the win by making six saves on New Paltz's eight shots on goal. Mac Reininger (Orlando, FL / Colorad Academy) and Lauren Hiltz (Woodbine, MD / Mount de Sales) had defensive saves. Gangewere had seven saves in the contest, which saw the Hawks with a 6-5 edge in penalty corners. RPI had an 18-15 advantage in shots, led by DiBello's six (4 on goal). Kayla McKeveny (Holbrook, NY / Sachem East) had five for New Paltz (3 on goal). 
 
RPI plays its season finale on Saturday at Oneonta, while the Hawks host Vassar on Saturday. Both games begin at 1pm.