TROY, N.Y. – The Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) women's soccer team has qualified for the 2017 Liberty League Tournament for the fourth time in six years and will be the fifth seed in Tuesday afternoon's First Round match at fourth seed St. Lawrence University (11am).
Led by second-year head coach BreLynn Nasypany, the Engineers enter the postseason with a 8-7-2 overall record, going 4-4-1 in the Liberty League. RPI closed out the regular season with a 2-0 victory over Clarkson on Saturday to clinch a spot in the top six.
In their previous meeting with St. Lawrence this season, which came on September 24 at East Campus Stadium in Troy, the Engineers came away with a 2-1 win. Junior
Emily Dunn (Seattle, WA/Ballard) netted the game's opening goal in the seventh minute, before the Saints equalized on Julia Mulhern's second tally of the season. RPI senior
Stephanie May (Windham, NH/Central Catholic) then buried the game-winner in the 80th minute from a cross by sophomore
Emily Kaplan.
Offensively, RPI is led by senior
Dali Alarian (Folsom, CA/Vista del Lago) with eight points on three goals and two assists. Dunn (3 goals, 1 assist) and Kaplan (2 goals, 3 assists) have seven points apiece, while seniors
Bethany Hanson (2 goals, 2 assists) and May (2 goals, 2 assists) each have six.
Between the sticks, sophomore
Joey Lyons (Harwood, MD/Southern) has started 14 games, going 6-6-1 with a 1.05 goals against average and an .800 save percentage. Senior
Tori Riopelle (Ashburn, VA/Briar Woods) is 2-1-0 with a 0.49 goals against average and an .889 save percentage in six appearances (3 starts).
RPI was the third seed last season, defeating Vassar in the conference semifinal, before falling to William Smith, 4-0, in its first ever finals appearance. The Engineers were the first seed in the 2012 tournament, but fell to Union, 1-0, at East Campus Stadium. In 2014, second-seeded Rensselaer was denied of a trip to the title game by St. Lawrence, which advanced on penalty kicks after playing to a 0-0 draw.
The winner of Tuesday's contest will advance to the Liberty League Semifinal on Friday at top-seed and nationally fourth-ranked William Smith (4pm).
