Box Score

ONEONTA, NY- Emily Thorndike (Dover, MA/Dover Sherborn) scored in the 75^th minute and Hope Brown (Sherburne, NY/Sherburne-Earlville) recorded her fifth shutout of the season as the women's soccer team upset visiting RPI 1-0 on Saturday night at Elmore Field. With the win, 'Wick evens their record at 8-8-1. The Engineers, who entered the game ranked 5^th in the NSCAA East Region poll, fall to 11-6.

The eight wins for Hartwick are the most since the Hawks went 8-7-3 in 2002. Their four-game winning streak is the longest since 1996.

“I thought we had a strong performance again and I'm really proud of our players' ability to execute a game plan and compete with a quality opponent,” remarked head coach Matt Verni.

The game was a tough defensive battle as neither team could get any shots to fall in. The Hawks nearly scored in the 32^nd minute when Stephanie Morini (Holbrook, NY/Sachem East) hit Thorndike with a long pass in front of the goal but Thorndike's shot went high. The Engineers had a good look at a goal with under nine minutes to play in the half but Brown stopped Jade Baumrind's shot and the game remained scoreless at halftime.

In the second half, the Hawks again nearly took the lead. A crowd gathered in front of the goal and Thorndike would get a shot off but Engineer goaltender Deanna Amola was there to make the save.

RPI had another good look but Sara Rothschild's shot went high and just skipped over the crossbar and out of play.
Hartwick's game-winning game goal came when Jessica Bentley (Worcester, NY/Schenevus Central) hit a long pass to Thorndike who caught up to the ball just before the end line on the right side. She one-timed a far-post cross and the ball deflected off the far post and in from a nearly impossible angle giving the Hawks the lead.

Brown had 12 saves in goal for the Hawks. Amola stopped three shots for RPI.

The Hawks won despite being outshot 17-10. RPI also led in corner kicks, 6-5.

“I'm really happy for us to continue our season and I hope we can continue our momentum into the ECAC tournament,” Verni said.

The Hawks now await a possible bid to the ECAC Tournament which will be announced nine days from now on Monday, November 5. It would be Hartwick's first ECAC playoff appearance since 1995.