| Union vs. Vassar - Liberty League Semifinals |
| Friday, November 6, 2026 • Schenectady, N.Y. • Frank Bailey Field at Bertagna-Class of 1985 Stadium • 4:00 PM |
| Live Stats • Live Video • Tournament Webpage |
SCHENECTADY, N.Y. – The Union College field hockey team earned a top-two seed in the Liberty League Tournament for the third straight season and will begin the quest for its first Liberty League championship at home with a Friday afternoon matchup against Vassar College in the Liberty League semifinals at Frank Bailey Field at Bertagna-Class of 1985 Stadium.
THE TEAMS: Union (11-6, 4-3 Liberty League) finished in a three-way tie for second place in the Liberty League standings with Vassar College (9-7, 4-3 Liberty League) and the University of Rochester (13-6, 4-3 Liberty League), but earned the tiebreaker thanks to wins over both schools. Union and third-seeded Vassar will face off in one semifinal, while the second semifinal pits top-seeded and NFHCA #20 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (14-2, 7-0 Liberty League) against fourth-seeded Rochester, who defeated fifth-seeded William Smith College by a 3-0 score in Tuesday's first-round matchup.
POSTSEASON HISTORY: Union is making its ninth appearance in the Liberty League Tournament and fourth straight after previously going 13 years without a playoff game. The Garnet Chargers finally broke through with their first conference tournament victory last season and are 1-8 all-time in Liberty League postseason play. Union has one postseason title to its credit, capturing the ECAC Mid-Atlantic Tournament crown on the way to a program-record 17 wins in 1988.
UNION VS. VASSAR: Sunday's game will be the 52nd all-time meeting between the two schools, with Union holding a 34-17 edge in the all-time series. Union won 22 of the first 23 meetings to skew the results, while Vassar has won eight of the last 10 contests between the two schools. The Garnet Chargers took the regular-season meeting by a 3-1 score on October 24 in Poughkeepsie, and now the team will look to avenge a 4-2 loss to the Brewers in last year's conference championship game. Vassar is 2-0 against Union in the postseason.
LAST MEETING: Union is hosting the semifinals because of its 3-1 win over Vassar in the regular-season matchup on October 24. Senior Amy Vytopilova scored twice in the game's first eight minutes and junior Rowan Dapson added a tally less than two minutes before halftime as the visitors jumped out to a 3-0 lead, then held on as junior Tess Parker made six of her career-high 10 saves in the second half.
ABOUT UNION: The Garnet Chargers ended the regular season with 11 wins, marking the first time in program history that the team has won at least 11 games in five consecutive seasons. This season, however, marks the first time during that run that Union has not led the Liberty League in goals per game, as the team sits third at 2.76 gpg behind Skidmore and RPI. Union does still lead the conference by averaging nearly 12 shots on goal per game.
ONE-TWO PUNCH: Seniors Maddie Greco and Amy Vytopilova are only the fifth pair of Union teammates to both reach double figures in goals in the same season, combining for 21 goals so far in 2026. Greco is the first Union player to reach double figures with multiple teammates during a career, having already done so with Megan Dorsey '26 in 2023, and is also the only Union field hockey player ever to score at least 10 goals in four straight seasons.
THEY'D BE HONORED: Union players have won three weekly awards from the Liberty League this season. Senior Maddie Greco was named the Performer of the Week and first-year Caroline Ranucci earned Rookie of the Week honors on October 5, while junior Tess Parker was named the Defensive Performer of the Week on October 26.
FINISHING STRONG: Senior Amy Vytopilova has been Union's best offensive player of the last two weeks, scoring five goals – including all three game-winning tallies – in a three-game span before playing only a few minutes in Thursday's regular-season finale. The senior has scored a career-high 10 goals so far this season to more than double her career scoring output after netting nine tallies over her first three seasons combined.
ABOUT THE BREWERS: Vassar enters the postseason as the defending conference champion, having earned its third Liberty League title with a finals win over Union a year ago. The Brewers rank seventh in the Liberty League by averaging 1.93 goals per game but rank third by allowing only 1.69 goals per outing. Julia Morris is the team's leading scorer with six goals, followed by Sydney Yu and Karina Hoffman with five each. In goal, Kendra Pitts and Grace Wiley have split 15 starts in goal for Vassar this year, with Pitts posting a 1.41 goals against average and .778 save percentage and Wiley registering a 1.50 GAA and .703 save percentage.
WHAT'S NEXT: The Union-Vassar winner will advance to the Liberty League championship game on Sunday against the winner of RPI-Rochester, to be played at the home of the highest remaining seed.
2026 Liberty League Tournament
First Round – Tuesday, November 3, 2026
#4 Rochester 3, #5 William Smith 0
Semifinal Round – Friday, November 6, 2026
#3 Vassar at #2 Union, 4:00 p.m.
#4 Rochester at #1 Rensselaer, 4:00 p.m.
Championship Game – Sunday, November 8, 2026
Semifinal Winners at Highest Remaining Seed