Box Score

POUGHKEEPSIE, NY (October 11, 2013) – This season, the Vassar College field hockey team had battled two ranked teams, falling twice in overtime to nationally-ranked University of Rochester and William Smith College. Friday, the Brewers turned the tables on their ranked opposition, knocking off No.13 Skidmore College 2-1 in action from Weinberg Field.

The Brewers (7-4/1-2 Liberty League) earned their first-ever win over the Thoroughbreds, also picking up their first conference victory since October 21, 2011. The triumph over their conference foe did not come easy though, as Skidmore (9-3/2-1 LL) got on the board first early in the first half. At 12:58 of the contest, Sam Skott scored her fifth goal of the season with help from Dani DeGregory, as Skott one-timed a feed from DeGregory.

SC nearly doubled its advantage minutes later, as Kelly Blackhurst made a bid for her league leading 13^th goal, but Enya Cunningham (Stroudsburg, PA/Stroudsburg) made a clutch defensive save to keep Vassar within one. VC's defense would hold strong the rest of the half, as senior keeper Maggie Brelis (Cambridge, MA/BB&N) made five first-half stops.

After the intermission, the Brewers came out with renewed enthusiasm, which was exciting for head coach Michael Warari to see. "I told them to play our game, I thought at some points in the first half we got frazzled, but I just reminded them to focus on our game, relax and stick to the game plan."

Brelis was big again in the early part of the second half, as she made three huge saves on Blackhurst to keep her teammates within striking distance. Midway through the half, VC started to mount a sustained attack, and freshman Hayley Beach (Latham, NY/Shaker) nearly tied the game at 50:42 but her attempt was saved off the line by SC's Jenn Hanks.

Seconds later though, the Brewers broke through to knot the score at one, as sophomore Bianca Zarrella (Leominster, MA/Leominster) tipped in her third goal of the season unassisted to pull Vassar even. After some back-and-forth play, Vassar would get the game-winning goal from one of its all-time leading scorers.

With just over five minutes to play, junior Dara Davis (Guilford, CT/Guilford) earned a long hit. Davis quickly self-started, eluding two defenders before sending a pass into the goal mouth. As has been seen before, senior midfielder Tina Caso (Carmel, NY/Carmel) was there to deflect the cross into the left side of the cage for her seventh goal of the season, which put the Brewers up for good.

Down the stretch, Skidmore had four shots on goal and two penalty corners, but three shots were blocked by the VC defense and one saved by Brelis to ensure the huge conference win. Cunningham played a big role for the Brewers Friday, taking six shots (4 SOG) while making that huge defensive stop.

Skidmore outshot its hosts 24-16 on the afternoon, and held a 15-9 edge in penalty corners. Brelis was fantastic once again in net, as she continued to stymie opposing goal scorers by making 10 saves on the night. Brelis and her defensive teammates have allowed just eight goals in 10 games she has seen action. Haley McDougall made eight stops in net for Skidmore.

"It's obviously means a lot since it's a Liberty League win, and because it was against one of the best teams in the country," said Warari. "One of our goals was to focus on doing well within the conference, and so this definitely helps going forward. We just kept pressing in the second half, and it was great to see their body language and fight. I'm very proud of this team."

The Brewers will look for another conference victory Saturday afternoon, as the Saints of St. Lawrence University come to Weinberg Field for a 2 p.m. start.