TROY, N.Y. – Junior Rowan Dapson had two goals and an assist to earn Tournament Most Outstanding Performer honors as the second-seeded Union College field hockey team captured its first Liberty League championship in program history with a 4-2 victory over top-seeded and NFHCA #20 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) on Sunday afternoon at Harkness Field.
With the victory, Union (13-6) advances to the NCAA Division III Championship for the first time in program history. The Garnet Chargers will learn their first-round opponent when the NCAA selections are announced tonight at 9 p.m. on
NCAA.com.
Dapson picked a fantastic time to record the first five-point game of her career, scoring the team's first and fourth goals and also assisting on the second score of the day. Sophomore Lily Durivage had a goal and an assist, senior Amy Vytopilova scored as well, and senior Maddie Greco had a pair of assists in the victory.
At the other end, junior Tess Parker made six saves and first-year Nadia Michienzi added a defensive save to lead another strong defensive effort against the conference's highest-scoring offensive attack.
Union struck first with 1:25 remaining in the opening frame, when Dapson took a penalty corner insert from Greco and went to the right before firing a shot through traffic for her sixth goal of the year. The visitors put the only four shots on goal in the opening period, requiring three saves from RPI's Olivia Brovak.
RPI evened the score 86 seconds into the second stanza on Sophia Brown's 17th goal of the season. The Engineers had the better of play in the frame, earning eight penalty corners and holding an 11-2 edge in shots, but the Union defense held firm after the opening goal to send the teams into halftime knotted at one, helped by a defensive save by Michienzi and four saves from Parker.
The Garnet Chargers made a strong push to start the third quarter. A defensive save by Ryan Spagnolo denied a Dapson corner shot to temporarily keep the game tied early in the third, but the Garnet Chargers responded on the next corner attempt as Dapson fed Durivage for her first goal of the season, giving Union a one-goal edge headed to the fourth.
Union continued its charge into the final frame, scoring twice in less than two minutes to create some much-needed breathing room. Vytopilova made it a 3-1 lead with 9:17 left on the clock, putting home a feed from Durivage in front. Dapson iced the game 89 seconds later with her second of the day, converting the team's third penalty corner of the afternoon for her first collegiate multi-goal game.
RPI (15-3), which had its 14-game winning streak snapped, made one last push to get back into the game, but Parker made three saves before the Engineers added a penalty stroke goal with 1:07 left.
The Engineers finished the afternoon with a 23-16 edge in shots and doubled up Union 18-9 in penalty corners, but the visitors had an 11-9 edge in shots on goal and Parker's six stops helped to preserve the win and set off a celebration in Troy.