TROY, N.Y. – The Ithaca College field hockey team improved to 9-2 and 3-0 in the Liberty League after a 2-1 overtime victory at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) on October 8 at Harkness Field. Ithaca has now evened its all-time series at 3-3 against RPI as the league foes played to their fifth overtime game in the rivalry.
Ithaca controlled the contest in terms of shots and corners, as the Bombers held a 15-6 edge in shots and 13-8 in corners, but RPI's goalkeeper,
Sarah Nace, made seven saves on the day to keep the Engineers in the game.
The Bombers would strike first, however, as Jacqueline Mirabile scored just 4:17 into the matchup off a pass from Avery Moses. Mirabile finally found the back of the net after her first two shots of the contest were saved during the opening minute of play. The go-ahead goal came off a corner attempt, in which Mirabile inserted and then found her way into shooting position.
IC fired off two more shots in the first quarter of action and kept RPI from producing any shots.
The Bombers increased their edge in shots to 7-0 within the opening two minutes of the second quarter, but the Engineers were able to earn a corner and took a shot off that insert with six minutes left before halftime, but it was saved by Macy Brandwein. A minute later, RPI registered another shot wide of target and IC went into the break with a 1-0 edge.
In the third quarter, IC attempted to extend its lead with four more shots, but three of those attempts were turned away and the Bombers maintained its 1-0 advantage heading to the final 15 minutes.
RPI ramped up its offense in the final quarter of action as it drew a pair of corners in a span of 13 seconds but was unable to score. With less than 10 minutes to go, the Engineers earned two more corners and produced one shot, which was saved by Brandwein. RPi continued the pressure and finally broke through with a goal by
Rachel Banister off an assist by
Delana Bonci at the 52:40 mark to knot the contest at 1-1.
IC countered with three corners and three shots but could not put the game away and went to overtime.
The game came to an end 4:25 into the first overtime session as Natalie Descalso capitalized on a pass from Elizabeth Pillow to give the Bombers a 2-1 victory.
