SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The Skidmore College women's soccer team found timely scoring from Christina Sanzari in the first half, buckling down on defense to earn a 1-0 victory against RPI in the Liberty League finale, on Friday evening at Wachenheim Field.
 
The Thoroughbreds finish league play for the 2016 season with a 2-4-2 record, going 2-0-1 down the stretch. Skidmore increases its unbeaten streak overall to four, and stands at 6-6-2 on the year. The Engineers snap a season-high five-game unbeaten streak, falling to 13-4-1 overall, and 5-3 in league play.
 
After an even start by both teams, Skidmore struck first near the end of the first half. Emily Saliterman sent a cross from just outside the right side of the box, finding Sanzari at the upper left corner. Sanzari gathered and launched a curled shot that reached the middle of the net, beating RPI goalkeeper Joey Lyons high.
 
With the team down in the second half, RPI peppered the Skidmore defense with shots, outshooting the Thoroughbreds 10-5 over the final 45 minutes. In the 52nd minute, RPI's Stephanie May received the ball in the penalty box off a long throw-in, but Pheobe Martell-Crawford cleared the ball just moments before May could shoot it.
 
In the 62nd minute, Rollins made a pair of diving saves on RPI shots at the top of the box. The Engineers had their best chances in the 76th minute, when Rollins dove to her right to stop a May volley from inside the penalty box, getting a fingertip on the low ball to parry it out of bounds. Off the ensuing corner kick, Dali Alarian received the ball about 10 yards out on the left side of the box, and Rollins made a diving save on the high shot to keep the shutout alive. Nicole LoRusso, Julia Leslie, Elizabeth Schaeffer, and Claudia Lamberty made a few crucial defensive clears on late RPI opportunities, giving the Thoroughbreds their third shutout victory of the season.
 
Rollins finished with a game-high six saves playing in the second half, replacing Deidre Walsh, who stopped all three shots faced in the game's first 45 minutes. Their counterpart, Lyons, made three saves.
 
The Engineers outshot the Thoroughbreds 14-10, and tallied nine shots on goal, to Skidmore's four. RPI also held a 2-1 advantage on corner kicks.

RPI returns to action next week, when it travels to Vassar for the Liberty League Semifinals (TBD).