In a battle of two of Division III's top 20 teams, SUNY Cortland topped the University of Rochester 2-1 in a non-conference field hockey matchup on Sunday afternoon.
 
The two teams played very evenly throughout the contest with each team getting numerous chances, but the defenses stood tall and kept the game low scoring.  #14 ranked Rochester (10-2) had its seven game winning streak come to an end in the loss while #17 ranked Cortland (7-2) won its fourth straight game.
 
Less than a minute into the game the visiting Red Dragons would get on the board first when Cortland's Emily Woods fired a shot from the right wing and the attempt to clear ended up in the UR cage, giving Cortland all the momentum early.
 
Rochester would respond with numerous chances in the next few minutes with the best coming from sophomore Michelle Relin.  Relin was fed on a great pass from teammate Gina Cunningham in the circle but the opportunity was broken up by a strong play from Red Dragon keeper Amanda Perricone.
 
The Yellowjackets were able to get an equalizer in the 23rd minute when senior Lindsey Randall broke into the circle and cracked a 10 yard blast from open space on the right wing.
 
Late in the half Cortland was able to regain its one goal lead when freshman Gabrielle Stein found the back of the cage off a rebound from a long entry pass from teammate Erica Wharton.  It was Stein's team leading 15th goal of the year.
 
Stein nearly made it 3-1 with under a minute to play in the period, but she had three point blank chances denied by the UR defense, two by goalie Madison Wagner and a third stopped by defender Tiffany White.  At the break, Cortland held a 2-1 lead which would prove to be the final margin.
 
The second half was played at a very high tempo, with both teams using long passes and speed along the sidelines to generate odd man rushes.  Cortland would fire 13 shots during the period compared to eight for the Yellowjackets.  UR would hold a corner advantage in the half though, earning five corners to the Red Dragons two in the final 35 minutes.
 
For the game UR was outshot 21-18 but held a seven to three edge in corners.  Perricone made 10 saves in the cage for Cortland while Wagner also had 10 stops in the loss, her first of the season.
 
With one minute remaining, UR's Cunningham had a shot right in front of the Cortland goal off of a penalty corner but Perricone stood tall and stopped the opportunity to even the score.
 
Relin had a team high eight shots (five on goal) for Rochester with Randall ending with four (two on goal).  Cortland was led by Stein who had five shots (four on goal) and Karly Vdoviak who had three shots on net (four total).  Both White and freshman Sayaka Abe had a defensive save for UR.
 
The Yellowjackets look to rebound on Tuesday when they travel to Ithaca for a game at 6 pm.  Cortland next plays at SUNY Brockport on Saturday.