After suffering two back-to-back defeats to Ithaca College and St. Lawrence University, the field hockey team put the disappointments behind them and stepped onto the field at Hamilton College to defeat the Continentals, 4-1.
By doing so, they secured a spot in the Liberty League Championship playoffs for the first time in UR history.
Statistically, the game against the Bombers of Ithaca College on Oct. 19th was an even match. UR totaled 10 shots on goal to Ithaca’s 13, 11 penalty corners to the Bombers’ 14 and eight saves to the home team’s six.
However, Ithaca managed to net the only goal of the game at 21:12 into the first half and earned the win with a 1-0 shutout.
Junior and cocaptain Mary DiMatteo had four shots on goal, while juniors Revay Wilson and Celi Fletcher, sophomore Kari Plewniak and senior Courtney Nussbaum also contributed to the offensive effort with six collective shots.
Defensively, sophomore Rachel Cahan made two saves and fellow sophomore Robyn Levy totaled six. Cahan played just under 15 minutes before being replaced by Levy due to a leg injury.
“We just couldn’t pull it out and score,” Cahan said. “We definitely should have won.” The two teams’ overall records concur, as Ithaca improved to 9-4 with the win and UR fell to 8-6 on the season with the loss.
Friday’s game against the St. Lawrence University Herons was the second and last game of UR’s mid-season “slump.”
The Yellowjackets lost, 3-1 at the Herons’ home stadium.
Junior Krista Butler prevented a shutout with a goal netted 43 minutes into the game, but the team was unable to return from the 2-0 deficit St. Lawrence created in the first half. The Herons sealed the win with a third goal scored in the second half.
For UR, Fletcher attempted five of the team’s 15 total shots on goal, which provided a strong offensive force against SLU.
“We didn’t play a horrible game,” Cahan said. “We just didn’t play nearly our best, and they brought one of their best games.”
St. Lawrence, ranked fifth in Liberty League play, improved to 7-4 overall, while the Yellowjackets maintained their third-place status and fell to 8-7 overall.
Saturday’s game was different.
“We put ourselves in a do-or-die situation,” Cahan said. “Coach sat us down after the SLU game and as Heidi [Davies] said, ‘I pity Hamilton tomorrow.'”
UR defeated the Continentals, 4-1 for the 10th straight win against the opposing Liberty League team.
The first goal of the game was scored by Wilson, assisted by Nussbaum and was quickly followed by one from Plewniak, unassisted.
The Continentals managed to net one off of a penalty corner in the beginning of the second half, but as they were unable to score again, they merely broke the monotony of UR-only goals.
Plewniak and Nussbaum – assisted by Butler and DiMatteo, respectively – scored the last two goals for the Yellowjackets. The win guarantees a spot in the Liberty League playoffs for UR.
UR’s last home game of the playing at the Liberty League playoffs will be played at 4 p.m. on Sat., against SUNY Oneonta.
Anderson can be reached at janderson@campustimes.org.
