NEW PALTZ, N.Y. – The No. 6 Vassar College field hockey (16-1) team closed their historic regular season with a 2-0 victory over New Paltz (10-7) on Saturday afternoon. The Brewers enter the Liberty League Tournament on a 14-game winning streak and continue to stop opposing offenses in their tracks.
Cold and rainy conditions did not slow down Vassar as the team outshot the Hawks 24-3 at North Turf Field.
Monica Feeley (Harrisburg, PA) nearly scored at the 17
th minute, but a defensive save by Kayla Ahern kept the game scoreless. Feeley made another attempt off a
Mikayla Young (Honesdale, PA), but this time Hawks' goalkeeper Ryan Dowling made the stop.
At 22:06,
Alyssa More (Wilmington, DE) fired a shot on goal that Dowling cleared, but More collected the rebound and found the back of the net to put Vassar up 1-0. Â
Early in the second,
Ally Aquilina-Piscitello (Lexington, MA) looked to push the lead, but Dowling was there for another save. A couple of shots by
Emily Poehlein (Northampton, MA) and
Cristina Lopez (Timonium, MD) kept the pressure on the New Paltz defense, but the Hawks dug in. The Brewers scored again after a quick succession of passes off a Young corner at the 40
th minute. Young inserted to Lopez, who made the quick pass to
Megan Caveny (Cicero, NY). Caveny then found fellow senior More for her second goal of the game.
The Hawks tried to make a comeback at the 57
th minute after drawing a corner. Samantha Ackerman inserted for New Paltz and picked up Samantha Ackerman who made the shot. Aquilina-Piscitello was waiting perfectly though and made the defensive save to keep the Hawks scoreless. Looking for the hat trick, More fired two more shots on goal in the final minutes, but was not able to push the lead.
Liz Rotolo (Lebanon, NJ) recorded two saves, with the Vassar defense picking up their 12
th shutout of the season.
Madison Maguire (North Kingstown, RI) also found time in goal for the Brewers. New Paltz's Dowling made 17 saves starting in goal.
The Vassar post-season begins on Wednesday Oct. 31 when the Brewers host RPI in the semifinals of the Liberty League Tournament. Game is set to start at 6 p.m. at Weinberg Field.
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