A flock of Red Hawks attack the Rensselaer goaltender as they scored seven goals in their shut-out victory Sunday. Photo taken by Mike Zawadzki.
It was a sweet holiday weekend for the MSU field hockey team as they swept two home games over Union College and Rensselaer. Senior Megan Pietrunti scored the game winner in overtime on Saturday to defeat Union, while the Red Hawks destroyed the Rensselaer Engineers 7-0 in the second game of the weekend on Sunday.
Saturday’s game against Union was a particularly frustrating one for the Red Hawks, who retained ball possession for much of the game and peppered the net with 25 shots on goal. However, a slow start led to an early Dutchwomen goal and a 1-0 deficit for Montclair.
With time running down in the first half, the Red Hawks finally got on the board as junior Diana Colombo took a pass from senior Deana Hagel off a penalty corner and nailed it past the goalkeeper to tie the game. The game remained a 1-1 tie throughout the second half as Union goalkeeper Sarah Rios was nearly unbeatable, stopping an incredible 23 shots in the game, to keep her team within striking distance and sending the game into overtime.
With time running down in overtime, a scramble out in front gave the Red Hawks an opening offensively and Pietrunti pounded in the winning goal, her second of the season. Pietrunti also has a school single game record of 15 shots in the game, 13 of which landed on goal.
The victory over Union was also Coach Beth Gottung’s 100th career win. The win makes Gottung the first ever MSU field hockey coach with 100 wins and the 26th coach in MSU history to achieve that feat.
Senior defender Rebecca Dobiesz described the team’s resilience. “The thing that contributed to our success was playing strong hockey as one unit,” said Dobiesz. “When we were down a goal, we stayed relentless and came together.”
Victory came a little bit easier on Sunday as the Red Hawks took on Rensselaer Polytechnic. The goals came early and often as senior Melissa Buttray got the scoring started with a goal on a deflection just 1:32 into the game to give MSU an early lead. Junior Jessica Murphy would score on a penalty corner a few minutes later, and a third goal by sophomore Chelsea Keelen gave the Red Hawks a 3-0 lead at halftime.
The Engineers of Rensselaer proved to be no match for the firepower of the Red Hawks as MSU came out of halftime by scoring four goals in a span of 18 minutes. Pietrunti scored her team leading third goal of the year on a penalty stroke, and Hagel would score a couple minutes later for a 5-0 MSU lead. A second goal from Murphy and a late score by sophomore Kelly Montgomery would wrap up the scoring for MSU.
On the other side of the ball, Rensselaer struggled to move the ball offensively and managed just three shots on goal for the game, all of them coming in the second half. The two MSU goalkeepers split duties in the game with Megan Bosland playing the first half and Noell Gomez the second half. The two shared the shutout, the first in both of their careers. Bosland also shut out Union in the second half and overtime of Saturday’s game, giving her a still perfect goals against average in just over 82 minutes of playing time.
The Red Hawks will get some time off before their next game, a home meeting with Muhlenberg College on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. Montclair will then host Stevens College on Wednesday September 16, also at Sprague Field.
