Field hockey falls in Empire 8 opener

Field hockey falls in Empire 8 opener

Troy, NY—The Sage Colleges' field hockey team hosted the Pioneers of Utica College on Saturday afternoon in an Empire 8 match-up. Utica College earned the 7-1 win to improve to 2-3 overall and 1-0 in the league, while Sage falls to 1-3 overall and 0-1 in the conference.

Utica held a 5-0 lead at the intermission and was paced by the play of junior Ricki Haab (Stowe, VT/Stowe) as she collected a pair of goals giving her two goals on the season. Her second goal was a penalty stroke at the 23:53 to give the Pioneers a 4-0 lead.

Senior forward Rylee Meelan (Clinton, NY/Clinton) added two goals as well for Utica in the win.

Sage's rookie Cortney Conley (Stanfordville, NY/Stissing Mountain) broke up the shutout bid with her goal at 45:48 for her second goal on the year.

Sage's junior goalie Alicia Swavely (Rome, NY/Rome Free Academy) made nine saves in the action, while Utica's freshman keeper Megan Chamberlain (Queensbury, NY/Queensbury) collected the win after playing 35 minutes with one save. She improves to 2-3 on the year. Rookie keeper Madison Cudhea (Rome, NY/Rome Free Academy) played the second half and added three saves with one goal allowed in her 35 minutes of work.

Sage is back in action on September 16 hosting Brockport State at RPI's Harkness Field at 4 p.m. Utica returns to action on Brockport State on September 19 at 5 p.m. For the first 50 fans in attendance at Sage's Sunday match-up, there will be souvenir color changing Gator cups.