POUGHKEEPSIE, NY (November 2, 2016) – Skidmore College defender Kayla Rose scored a pair of goals Wednesday evening, lifting the No. 17 Thoroughbreds past the Vassar College field hockey team 3-1 in the semifinals of the Liberty League Tournament.
 
With the win, Skidmore (14-5) will now host the University of Rochester in the title game Saturday at 1 p.m. in Saratoga Springs, NY. Rochester knocked off top-seed William Smith College Wednesday 2-1 in Geneva, NY.
 
The loss was only the second of the season for the Brewers (14-4) on Weinberg Field, and it marked the first time Vassar has allowed three of more goals on its home turf since surrendering five against New Paltz October 31, 2013. The quick start from the Thoroughbreds forced the Brewers to play from behind for much of the game, as Skidmore opened the scoring in the fourth minute.
 
Skidmore defender Marissa Folts sent a pass into the circle, and after a deflection, Rose swept the ball into the left side of the cage for the early lead. It was Rose's third goal of the season. The remainder of the half was played either in the midfield or in the Skidmore end, as VC was able to put three shots towards the cage, but Elizabeth Coughlin was only called to make a save on a 30^th minute attempt from sophomore Megan Caveny.
 
After the intermission, Vassar saw its visitors pick up two penalty corners, nearly scoring on the first. On the sequence, VC sophomore Paige Amico made two stops and senior defender Sophie Arnold made a defensive save to keep the score 1-0.
 
Moments later, the Thoroughbreds would bust through again, as Meghan Lynch took a shot on a corner, and the deflection went to Miranda Davenport. Davenport pushed the ball towards the goal line, and it trickled over the line before teammate Becca Halter knocked it cleanly into the cage for a 2-0 lead.
 
The Brewers weren't going to go away though, trimming the Skidmore edge to 2-1 thanks to a perfectly executed penalty corner play. Sophomore Mikayla Young inserted, and Caveny fired towards the right side. The shot beat Coughlin, and was tipped by freshman Sam Plante into the netting for the score. It was Plante's first career goal.
 
Vassar had two penalty corners right after scoring, as Caveny had a good shot in the 61^st minute, but her attempt went just wide right. Minutes after VC had another chance on a penalty corner, Skidmore would regain its two-goal edge as Rose connected for her second of the game on a pass from Davenport to make it 3-1.
 
VC had two more chances, but none would beat Coughlin as the Thoroughbreds earned the right to host the Liberty League Championships Saturday.
 
The Brewers held a slight 11-8 shot edge, and were awarded 11 penalty corner to just the two for Skidmore. Amico finished the game with four stops for VC, while Coughlin made three saves for her 13^th win of the season.
 
"It's definitely a tough loss for my team…it was tough," said head coach Michael Warari. "I thought they played hard, we fought until the end and that is the great makings of a really competitive team."
 
The Brewers could still be alive in the hunt for a NCAA Championships berth, as VC will look to nab one of the five Pool C bids out there. "Look at our record, look at how many teams we played in the Top 20, and look how many teams we beat…I think my team deserves that opportunity."
 
The tournament bracket will be released Sunday evening at 10:30 p.m. on NCAA.com. If VC is not selected, it will have played its last game with the winningest senior class in program history, as Arnold, Lauren Shumate, Emma Bracken, Flora Crichton-Stuart and Hayley Beach helped the Brewers to 48 wins over the last four seasons, and a program-record 14 in 2016.
 
--VASSAR--