The field hockey team showed no mercy on the field Wednesday, coming onto the field fighting hard against the Wells College Express. In an intense eight minute span during the first half senior Jen Knipe, freshman Celina Fletcher and junior Erin Charnow knocked in a goal apiece.
“The game went really well, we got to put in a lot of younger players since we had a strong lead at halftime. A lot of new people scored which was nice,” senior Shawnessy Dusseau said, adding, “We’re really excited for this weekend’s conference games against Vassar and RPI.”
Freshman Mary DiMatteo assisted the lead with another goal close to halftime, leaving Rochester with a 4-0 lead before the second half had even begun. In two unassisted goals by freshman Courtney Nussbaum and Fletcher in the second half, both occurring by 14:40, UR secured a victory and changed the team’s record to 5-6.
UR came off an unfortunate loss against Hartwick on Sunday, Oct. 5, after fighting through the entire game in efforts to combat the 2-0 lead by the Hawks. Senior Kaitlin Poeth scored in the final minutes of the game to leave Hartwick with only a 2-1 lead, but the Yellowjackets were unable to fully recover with a second goal to tie it up.
“We were satisfied with our playing, obviously not with the outcome but we did play really well,” Dusseau said.
The Yellowjackets exerted their best efforts on Saturday, Oct. 4 facing the Red Dragons at SUNY Oneonta, and dominated the action for the first 15 minutes, but eventually lost momentum and ended the game without evening the score after Oneonta’s goal in the middle of the opening half. The team fought hard through the first half with a particularly strong offensive emphasis, but UR was not able to score and edged back somewhat in the second half, allowing Oneonta to dominate.
At Fauver Stadium on Tuesday, Sept. 30, the team played an intensive game against William Smith, with each team fighting for domination of the field. The Yellowjackets forced the Hurons back from their strong start in the first half but couldn’t hold through the entire half, allowing the Hurons to score at 25:20. UR came out fighting hard in the second half as a result of the Hurons’ scoring, and within three minutes Dusseau had secured a goal, bringing the score to an even 1-1. William Smith was able to knock in a ball off a penalty corner during the second half and capitalize on scoring opportunities toward the end of the game as well.
“Although we lost we held them for a while which was good -they’re a tough team,” Dusseau said. The Yellowjackets weren’t able to recover before the game was called, ending in a 2-1 game in the Hurons’ favor and leaving UR’s Upstate Collegiate Athletic Association current record 1-2.
In the second of their first three conference games this past week, the Yellowjackets played the St. Lawrence Saints on Sunday, Sept. 27, and managed to outshoot the Saints but were unable to outscore the team, ending in a disappointing 3-0 loss for UR. The Saints had scored all three goals by 27:36 in the first half and though the Yellowjackets did their best they weren’t able to change the score. On a more positive note, freshman Courtney Nussbaum had her first varsity start and worked hard, ending with five saves.
The Yellowjackets faced their first opponents of the season’s opening UCAA tournament on Saturday, Sept. 26, Hamilton College’s Contintentals, and their aggression was apparent as they fought for the game, holding fast through not only the entire first and second halves but also a 10-minute overtime and just more than five minutes into a second, sudden-death overtime period. It was during this intense second overtime period that Dusseau scored at 5:46 to tip the hand of victory in favor of UR.
“It was great to finish in a second overtime and come out with a win,” Dusseau said. While the Continentals were the first to score at 9:12 in the first half, sophomore Erin Charnow scored twice before the clock had hit the five-minute mark in the second half to put the Yellowjackets ahead. With less than 12 minutes remaining in the game the Continentals evened the score which led to the first of the two overtime periods.
The team is eagerly looking forward to improving its 5-6 overall record as well as its 1-4 UCAA record when UR faces Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Vassar College on home turf during Meliora Weekend.
Rigby can be reached at krigby@campustimes.org.
