POTSDAM, N.Y. – The Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) women's lacrosse team finished their 2023 regular season schedule in style on Saturday afternoon, as they defeated the Clarkson Golden Knights by a final score of 18-13. Senior
Rylie Maready led the Enginweers with a seven point afternoon on three goals and four assists – as she eclipsed 100 career points with the marks.
RPI concludes the regular season with an 11-4 overall record, and a 6-4 mark in Liberty League play. They finish the slate tied with Union for fourth place in the league standings, and will be the No. 5 seed in the upcoming Liberty League Championships. RPI will take on No. 4 seeded Union on Tuesday night in Schenectady in the opening round of the conference tournament.
The Engineers scored early and often, opening a 5-1 lead into the start of the second quarter.
Lauren DeLeo scored the first two goals of the game, while
Megan Shay,
Quinn Wollard, and Maready followed up with goals.
Clarkson cut the RPI lead to just one, making it 6-5 with 2:31 to play before halftime on a goal from Sydney Nakas. However,
Sophie Goddard scored with 1:03 to play with Shay capping the half with a goal with just five seconds to play to push the Engineers lead back to three to hold an 8-5 lead into the half.
Both sides battled in the third quarter, scoring a combined 11 goals in the 15 minutes. Clarkson continued to push, making the score 10-8 with 8:59 on the clock in the third quarter as Hailey Millington scored. From that point, the Engineers turned in an 8-1 run into the fourth quarter that was capped by a goal from Graff to take an 18-9 lead.
The Golden Knights continued to battle late into the fourth quarter, scoring four times before the final horn to make it an 18-13 final score.
Graff and DeLeo each finished with five points apiece with four goals and one assist each.
Megan Shay joined the four-goal club as well, while Goddard added two goals and an assist to her stat line. Goaltender
Olivia Kimball made eight saves in the cage to earn another win on the season.
Madelynn Barnum scored six times for Clarkson to lead all scorers on the day. Lavarnway added two goals and three assists for five points, while Lauren Shanahan added two goals for the Golden Knights.
