The women?s soccer team played its best game of the young season to beat the Rochester Institute of Technology Tigers 6-2 Tuesday.
Senior striker Christine Sipala fought off defenders as she dribbled the ball to the top of the box, where she blasted a shot into the lower left corner of the goal 19 minutes into the first half.
Senior stopper Jen Seferiadis curled a corner kick into the net with nine minutes left for a 2-0 lead.
Three minutes later, Seferiadis lofted a ball into the box and junior midfielder Val Palermo grabbed the loose ball and shot it into an empty net.
RIT got on the board 30 seconds later when a cross from Jackie Matejcik hit the inside of the left goalpost and bounced into the net, breaking UR?s streak of 220 minutes without allowing a goal.
RIT came out with increased pressure to start the second half and outplayed the Yellowjackets for the first 10 minutes.
Seferiadis then advanced the ball up the field and forced a corner kick, which she took and lofted into the box.
The ball bounced off goalie Danielle Iuppa?s hands and into the net for a 4-1 UR lead.
The Yellowjackets dominated from then on, even though RIT had an extra player for the last 29 minutes, after Sipala received a red card for retaliating after an RIT defender pushed her off the ball in front of the RIT net. Sipala will also have to miss UR?s next game, which is at New York University on Saturday.
?She?s never had so much as a warning in her four years,? head coach Terry Gurnett said. ?So this was just an unfortunate human reaction.?
UR actually played better after the ejection, tacking on two well-executed goals.
Sophomore defensive back Jenica Schmidt blasted a low line drive from near midfield that freshman striker Kristin Kelly redirected into the net with 18 minutes left.
Freshman sweeper Sarah Tarka charged up the middle of the field with the ball and dumped it off to freshman striker Portia Bridges, who ran past the goalkeeper and put the ball into an empty net with 16:30 left to play.
?We started playing our best soccer [after the ejection] because they really had to concentrate,? Gurnett said.
RIT added a second goal with four minutes left when Melanie Lowe received a perfect pass from Lindsay LaRocca and placed the ball in the left side of the net.
Jacobs can be reached at bjacobs@campustimes.org.
