The Yellowjackets extended their season when they qualified for the Eastern College Athletics Conference Northeast Regional quarterfinals.
Their first opponent in this single-elimination tournament was Skidmore College, a team sporting an impressive record of 13-6-1.
Despite this laudable record, the Yellowjacket defense put Skidmore’s offense to rest by allowing just two shots throughout the entire game.
Rochester dominated from start to finish by pounding away at Skidmore’s defense which allowed the Yellowjackets to take 26 shots on their beleaguered goalie.
While the Yellowjackets managed to turn just two of those 26 shots into goals, the team maintained pressure throughout both halves of the game.
Scoring resulted from two fantastic performances that combined the efforts from the Yellowjackets’ offense and defense.
Senior Portia Bridges recorded the first goal after UR failed to capitalize on several opportunities earlier in the game. Bridges picked off a pass from one of Skidmore’s defenseman who tried to clear the ball. Acting quickly, Bridges fired the ball past Skidmore’s goaltender to give the Yellowjackets a 1-0 lead.
The Yellowjackets struck again early in the second half off a corner kick play that senior Karen Forsythe initiated. Skidmore’s goaltender rejected Forsythe’s shot by punching away from the net. Freshman Ashley VanVechten returned the goaltender’s volley with a bicycle-kick shot that nailed the back corner of the post and gave the Yellowjackets a final score of 2-0.
With a victory in hand, the team advanced to the semi-final round squaring off against Union College, a team the Yellowjackets faced several weeks ago in a game that ended in a deadlock.
The stalemate in this game ended during the first few minutes of the second half. One of Union’s wards capitalized on a ball that rebounded off freshman goalie Molly Leitch giving Union the first lead of the day.
The Yellowjackets responded two minutes later with a play from sophomore and UR’s top scorer Emily Urbancyzk. After collecting a loose ball, Urbancyzk made her way to the goal and shot it past to even the score at one.
Despite their efforts, Rochester defense failed to hold Union’s offense from scoring. Union broke the tie with a long range shot that sailed over Leitch. They later quelled Rochester’s attempts to tie by adding an insurance goal which eventually resulted in the final score of 3-1.
While the women’s soccer team failed to obtain a title this season, they still ended it with a record of 11-6-3. They can take consolation in the fact that they played a little longer than their regular season schedule.
Serafini can be reached at jserafini@campustimes.org.
