Box Score POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. - A late Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) comeback was swatted away by the No. 6 Vassar College field hockey team, as the Brewers held on for the 3-1 victory on Saturday afternoon. Freshman Ella Pearl scored the opening goal, with freshman Sam Kass and junior Dara Studnitzer also getting on the board.
Vassar moves to 9-0 overall and 1-0 in Liberty League play, while RPI drops to 0-8 and 0-1 in the conference.
The Brewers began the game by outshooting the Engineers 7-0 and finally broke through the defense at the 12th minute mark. Junior Grace Amell set up the penalty corner to Cristina Lopez at the top of the circle. Cristina Lopez then made a line-drive shot through the RPI backline and goalkeeper to Pearl in front of the net and the freshman redirected the shot for the first score. The Brewers nearly scored again in the final minute off shots by Lopez and Carina D'souza, but they were turned away by RPI goalie
Jen Richardson and defender
Mikayla Berman.
Vassar picked up their second score in the 26th minute. RPI attempted to clear the ball at the top of their circle, but Kass tripped up the defender, controlled the ball and fired a shot from the arc and into the net.
RPI looked like a completely different team in the second half, going on to outshoot Vassar 7-3 in the third.
Lauren Roy opened with two shots and
Charisse Stakutis launched the ball on net before Liz Rotolo deflected it away. RPI's
Kaitlyn Stulen set up a penalty corner to
Brianna Duba, who quickly dished off to Stakutis four yards back from the Vassar goal. She chipped the shot into the right corner to cut the lead to 2-1. The Engineers took three more shots in the quarter.
RPI's momentum carried over into the fourth when Stulen had an early shot on goal. Soon after, junior Grace Yacura found herself in a breakaway down the midfield, but her shot was turned aside by Richardson. A scramble in front of the net ensued. Studnitzer locked sticks with an RPI defender and came out ahead when the ball popped to her and she slipped it in for the score.
The Brewers maintained the lead and kept the offense moving with seven total shots. Rotolo finished wiith two saves, while Richardson had 10 for RPI. Lopez, Rylie Pope and Stephanie Palma led Vassar with four shots each, while Stakutis led the game with five shots.
Rensselaer returns to action on Wednesday at Castleton University (6pm), while the Brewers continue Liberty League action on Saturday when they travel to Union (4:30pm).
