ROCHESTER, NY –The No. 3 seed RIT women's soccer team will travel to Geneva, N.Y. to play No. 2 seed Ithaca College in the Liberty League Tournament semifinal on Saturday, Nov. 3 at 7 p.m. at Boswell Field on the campus of Hobart and William Smith Colleges. The winner advances to Sunday's championship game and will face the winner between No. 1 William Smith and No. 4 St. Lawrence at 3:30 p.m.
RIT advanced to Saturday's semifinals after a thrilling, come-from-behind win over Vassar College in Tuesday's first round contest. Trailing 2-0 late in the second half, the Tigers rallied to score two goals in the final two minutes of regulation to tie the score.
Rebecca Hext (Ottawa, ON/Longfields Davidson Heights) scored in the 88th minute to make it a 2-1 game, and
Marla Roberts (Penfield, NY/Home Schooled) scored in the 89th minute to tie the score at 2-2.
Abbey Saia (Monroe, CT/Masuk) scored early in the first overtime session to seal the miraculous comeback.
The Tigers enter Saturday second in the Liberty League in scoring, averaging 1.88 goals per game. The Tigers have outscored their opponents 32-13 on the season and sit fourth defensively, allowing 0.76 goals per contest. RIT enters Saturday 5-1-0 over its last six games, tallying 10 goals during that stretch.
Roberts leads the team and is fourth in the Liberty League in scoring with 18 points, and is third in the league with eight goals.
Lauren Zeglen (Scotia, NY/Scotia-Glenville) is one of three Tigers in the top-10 in the Liberty League in assists, handing out five, while
Jessica Jones (Holden, MA/Wachusett) and
Monique Polanco (Merrick, NY/John F. Kennedy) each had three.
Alyssa Salls (Plattsburgh, NY/Plattsburgh) has played the majority of minute in net for RIT. She is fourth in the league with a 0.73 goals against average and a .864 save percentage. Salls is 7-1-2 on the season with two shut-outs.
Ithaca enters Saturday as the No. 2 seed. The Bombers earned the second seed with a 7-2-0 conference record. The Bombers defeated Vassar 3-0 in the regular season finale Saturday. Alex Epifani scored twice for Ithaca, while Ally Christman added a goal.
The Bombers enter Saturday as the highest scoring team in the Liberty League, averaging 2.12 goals per game, while outscoring their opponents 36-11. Ithaca is third defensively, allowing 0.44 goals per contest.
Epifani leads Ithaca and the Liberty League in goals with nine, assists with seven, and points with 25. She is second in the league with five game-winning goals. Mihale Gabriella is second on the team in scoring with 12 points on five goals and two assists. Shoshana Bedrosian is third with 10 points on five goals. Sara Jakobsze has seen the majority of minutes in net for Ithaca, posting an 11-0-2 record. She is second in the Liberty League with a 0.32 goals against average, and is third with a .905 save percentage.
RIT defeated Ithaca 2-1 on October 24 at Tiger Stadium.
Jenna Valleriano (Webster, NY/Webster Thomas) scored the game-winner in the 59th minute. Roberts also scored for RIT, while Megan O'Reilly tallied for the Bombers. Salls got the win in net for RIT, making a career-high 11 saves. Emma Fruhling took the loss for Ithaca. The Tigers have won two straight over the Bombers.
