After finishing up the regular season 10-9 overall, UR field hockey is on hold until Nov. 8 as the team waits to hear if they will get an Eastern College Athletic Conference bid to participate in the Division III Championship.
The ECAC committee will take divisional winning percentage and both head-to-head and common opponents results into consideration, along with the strength of the team’s schedule and their regular season conference standings when determining which teams earn the privilege of a postseason.
A total of 16 teams will be chosen to participate and will be divided in half to form the Mid-Atlantic and New England regions.
If chosen, the Yellowjackets will play on Nov. 10. All winning teams will continue to play on Nov. 13 and Nov. 14.
Rochester played its last home game of the regular season last Tuesday against the Houghton College Highlanders. The Yellowjackets outshot their opponents 15-3, even managing to hold the Highlanders to zero shots at goal for the entire second half, but suffered a disappointing loss as Houghton scored on a penalty shot with eight minutes left in the first round of overtime.
“The Houghton game was a game that we dominated the whole time and we couldn’t find the back of the cage,” Head Coach Michelle Andre said. “We had plenty of opportunities.” Houghton, a Division II team, improved to 9-4 overall with the 1-0 win.
In addition to the last home game, Oct. 26 also brought honors for two players on the Rochester team. Both sophomore forward Revay Wilson and freshman goalie Rachel Cahan earned awards for their contributions. Wilson was named Liberty League Offensive Player of the Week for her game-winning goals against Vassar College and Ithaca College, while Cahan was named Liberty League Rookie of the Week for her 18 saves over three games.
On Saturday, the Yellowjackets headed to SUNY Oneonta to end the regular season. Oneonta took the lead early on, scoring their first goal only 45 seconds into the game and gradually netting an additional two over the course of the first half.
Sophomore Heidi Davies, however, decreased the lead with a goal assisted by senior captain Erin Charnow to bring the score to 3-1 after 35 minutes of play. Sophomore Kristy Johnson carried the momentum of the Davies goal into the second half and scored two goals within five minutes of each other, tying the game at 3-3.
The Red Dragons refused to be defeated, though, and scored another three goals to win 6-3 and improve to a 13-6 overall record.
Offensively, Johnson and sophomore Celinda Fletcher had the most shots on goal with four shots each.
Cahan made two saves and allowed three goals over 22 minutes of play, while freshman goalie Robyn Levy played for nearly 50 minutes and allowed only three goals as well.
“The Oneonta game showed a lot of character,” Andre explained. “We came back from a 3-0 deficit to tie it up.”
For now, however, the Yellowjackets are focused on the postseason.
Anderson can be reached at janderson@
campustimes.org.
