ROCHESTER, NY – In a battle of the top two scoring teams in the Liberty League, the No. 15 RIT (7-1-1, 1-0-0 Liberty League) women's soccer team eked out a hard-fought 1-0 victory over No. 21 St. Lawrence University (7-1-0, 0-1-0 Liberty League) in the conference opener From Tiger Stadium on Saturday.

The Tigers bounced back from dropping their first game of the season on Wednesday to Rochester and recorded their seventh shutout of the season.

"I thought we learned from the mistakes we made on Wednesday and recovered from that loss and came back strong today," said RIT head coach Liz Masterson. "St. Lawrence is a very good team and they made it difficult for us in the first half. But we made the adjustments in the second half."

Riley Yankowich (Norristown, PA/Germantown Academy) tallied the game's lone goal in the 54th minute off an assist from Courtney Hunt (Brockport, NY/Brockport) on a corner kick to give the Tigers the win.

Shots were 9-6 in favor of RIT, who took six corner kicks to four for the Saints. Sienna Fisher (Lewisburg, PA/Lewisburg Area) got the start in net for RIT, making two saves in the first 45 minutes of action. Kelly Rogers (Ardmore, PA/Haverford) played the second half and made two saves earning her fifth win of the season. Kelsey West took the loss in net for St. Lawrence, making two saves.

Hunt had a good look at net early in the first half when she fired a shot from 25 yards out that West was able to dive and save before the ball crossed the line. In a half that did not feature many scoring chances, Anka Parzych (Niskayuna, NY/Niskayuna) had a chance for RIT late in the half on a scrum inside the Saints penalty area. Parzych got a toe on a shot that West was able to turn aside to keep the game scoreless.
 
St. Lawrence had a good chance early in the second half when Hannah Merriam made a nice run down the channel. Rachel Muskin found Meriam with a pass, but Rogers read the play and came out and made the save on the shot.

RIT broke through off a corner kick from Hunt. She sent in an in-swinging service. Yankowich was on the back post and elevated and headed in her second goal of the season to give RIT a 1-0 lead.

Less than a minute after the goal, St. Lawrence came right back and applied pressure to the RIT defense. Kate Stames and Kaleigh White each had very good scoring chances. White's shot whistled just wide of the RIT post and Stames' shot rolled wide of the net on a nice build-up by the Saints.

With 10 minutes to play, Muskin found Amanda Hamilton with a nice ball, but Rogers made a good play to come off her line and cut off the play keeping the score at 1-0. It is the third shut out of the season for Rogers and the seventh in nine games for the Tigers.

All seven of RIT's wins have come via the shutout this season. St. Lawrence leads the all-time series between the two schools, 14-6-3. RIT has a five-match unbeaten streak between the two schools since joining the league in 2011.

RIT returns to action on Friday, October 2 when they host Liberty League rival Skidmore College at 4 p.m. at Tiger Stadium.