Houghton, NY — Russell Sage College women's soccer travelled on Saturday afternoon to Houghton College for an Empire 8 contest. After playing to a 1-1 tie at the half, the Highlanders came up with the game-winning goal to post the 2-1 Empire 8 win. With the win, Houghton is now 3-3 overall and 2-2 in the conference, while the Gators are now 3-2 overall and also in the Empire 8.
Despite Saturday's loss, the Gators have secured the No. 2 seed in the upcoming Empire 8 Tournament.
Tournament Seeds
- Nazareth College (5-0)
- Russell Sage (3-2)
- St. John Fisher (2-2-1)
- Houghton (2-2)
- Utica (1-2-1)
- Alfred (0-5)
The Gators scored first against Houghton as junior forward Natalie Ricci (Cohoes, NY/Cohoes) scored at the 9:30 mark to give RSC the early lead. Houghton's Kealy DeForest scored to tie the action at 30:20 on a pass from Mikayla Simons. DeForest would add her second goal of the day on a pass from Tess Schilke at 65:28 to lift the Highlanders to the win.
For the Gators, junior goalie Mickaela Buzzy (Oneonta, NY/Oneonta) made four saves in taking the loss as she is now 0-2 on the year. Houghton's Megan Merrifeld collected the win as she had five saves with one goal allowed.
Ricci is the team's co-scoring leader with eight points on four goals and now has 14 career goals, five assists and 33 career points with three career game-winning goals.
The Gators are back in action in the 2021 Empire 8 Women's Soccer Tournament. RSC got a first-round bye and will host the winner of the #3 St. John Fisher vs. #6 Alfred game. RSC will host the semifinals on April 15 at a game time TBD. The finals will take place on Saturday, April 17 at the home field of the highest remaining seeded team.
