TROY, N.Y. – The Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) women's lacrosse team finished their regular season in a tie for fourth place with Union in the Liberty League standings, and will head to Schenectady as the No. 5 seed against the Dutchwomen Tuesday night at 7 p.m. RPI enters the game with an 11-4 overall record and a 6-4 mark in Liberty League play, while Union is 10-5 and 6-4.
The Engineers enter the playoffs with back-to-back wins over Rochester and Clarkson – including an 18-13 result over the Golden Knights this past weekend. Union and RPI met earlier this season on March 29 in Schenectady, as the Engineers fell 12-9 in that game.
Leading the charge for the Engineers this season are seniors
Rylie Maready and
Megan Shay, who have combined to score 81 of RPI's 219 goals as a team (37 percent of the offense). As a team, the Engineers have allowed 10.3 goals per game while scoring 14.6 goals per game. Defensively, goalkeeper
Olivia Kimball nailed down her spot in the cage in route to a 5-2 record this season in 11 games played.
Maready (Colorado Springs, CO / Cheyenne Mountain) is RPI's triple threat on offense, leading the team in overall points (59) wth a team-leading 26 assists and second to Shay in goals with 33. However, Maready brings the value as she set a new single-season record in draw controls (136), and stands as the program's all-time leader in the category. She is coming off her top offensive game of the season, a seven-point, 12 draw control effort in an 18-13 win at Clarkson. Her 3.93 points per game ranks third among all Liberty League qualifiers, while her 9.07 draw controls per game ranks second.
On attack, Shay (Rochester, MA / Old Rochester Regional) ranks second in the league in goals per game (3.20) as she scored a team-high 48 on the season. She twice scored seven goals in a game (4/7 vs. Vassar and 4/12 vs. Skidmore) and scored at least five goals in a game five times. She was held without a goal just twice this season, having scored multiple goals in all but one game she scored in.
RPI, which is coached by Leslie DeLano, matched their win total from a year ago (11 wins) – which was the most in a season since their 13-win campaign in 2014. The Engineers will look for their first Liberty League playoff win since 2018, and their first NCAA appearance since their 2014 Liberty League Championship – where they defeated Union 15-8 in the championship game.
Union comes into the game with back-to-back wins to conclude their regular season over Bard and Rochester. They average 13.1 goals per game, and allowed just 8.7 goals per game this season. They will look for a big game from goalkeeper Sydney Widlitz – this past week's IWLCA DIII Co-Defensive Player of the Week - who compiled a .523 save percentage and 9-4 record this spring. Offensively, Sydney McPartlon will be the player to watch, as her 48 points on 40 goals and eight assists led the Dutchwomen in the stats book.
The winner of the game advances to face top-seeded and No. 3 nationally-ranked William Smith (16-0, 10-0) in the semifinals on Friday in Geneva, N.Y. The Liberty League Championship game will be played on Sunday at the highest remaining seed of the seven-team tournament.
