ROCHESTER, NY – The University of Rochester defeated visiting Skidmore College 2-1 on Wednesday afternoon in the Liberty League Tournament semifinals at Edwin Fauver Stadium, advancing to the conference championship game for the fourth season in a row.
 
9th-ranked Rochester pushes its record to 18-1 overall on the year, matching a school record for wins in a season, while Skidmore ends the year with an 8-11 mark overall.
 
Senior co-captain Nancy Bansbach scored the opening goal for the Yellowjackets in the first half and first-year Amanda Strenk notched the game-winner with just over 11 minutes remaining in the contest.  Skidmore got its goal from Gabby Hyman in the 47th minute.
 
Rochester applied most of the offensive pressure early on, earning the games first penalty corner just 80 seconds in.  Courtney Dunham ripped a hard shot from the right wing off a cross from Bansbach, but Skidmore's Elizabeth Coughlin was there to make the kick save.
 
The Yellowjackets' Bansbach then opened the scoring in the seventh minute, coming on UR's second corner of the game.  Bansbach tipped a shot on target, which was saved, after the initial pass in from the top of the circle, but then gathered the rebound and slid it between Coughlin's pads for the 1-0 Rochester lead.
 

UR had a string of four penalty corners in a row beginning in the 24th minute, but the Thoroughbred defense held strong, only allowing one shot during the stretch.
 
Skidmore earned its first corner of the game at 29:10, and it led to the first Thoroughbred chance of the game.  After inserting the PC, Sarah Winters went and camped out at the left post.  Sarah Winters received the initial pass, and then dribbled around the defense to the right wing and slid a shot towards the far post, but was unable to connect with Winters who was left open.
 
At the end of the opening half, the Yellowjackets had a flurry of chances, including what they thought was a goal off a long hit deflection, but it was ruled that it did not hit a stick and the goal did not count.  UR led 10-1 in corners and 8-2 in shots during the first period.
 
The second half saw a bit more back-and-forth action, with both teams generating good scoring opportunities.  UR's Colleen Maillie narrowly missed connecting with Emma Schlechter on a breakaway in the early minutes, while Jennifer Lee also had some strong play up front, keeping UR in possession of the ball.
 
In the 44th minute, Skidmore's Hyman took a blast from the edge of the circle off a penalty corner, but Rochester goalkeeper Kate Kujawa had a clean look and saved it away.
 
Hyman was able to get the equalizer three minutes later though on a great individual effort.  Skidmore had a long hit from midfield which was corralled by the UR defense, but Hyman, who was on a full sprint, was able to steal the ball away and beat Kujawa on the blocker side to even the score at 1-1.
 
Following the Skidmore goal, Rochester used a timeout to regroup and reapply pressure in the offensive end.  A quick penalty corner 90 seconds after Skidmore scored did not yield a goal, instead a Maillie shot from the circle was blocked.
 
Junior Maya Haigis was excellent in applying pressure to the Skidmore backs, earning multiple steals deep in Thoroughbred territory, with one of her efforts leading to the penalty corner which would give the Yellowjackets the lead.
 
At 58:54, Strenk then broke the deadlock when she masterfully tipped in a PC shot from the right wing by Maillie, with the attempt just trickling past Coughlin and a Skidmore defender in the cage.
 
Skidmore nearly got the goal back two minutes later, but Maillie made a huge defensive save, denying Grace Florsheim a goal in the 61st minute.
 
The Thoroughbreds played the last two minutes of the game with an extra attacker, but UR maintained possession throughout that time and earned the 2-1 victory.
 
Overall, the Yellowjackets led 16-6 in shots and 18-3 in penalty corners.  Kujawa made three saves in goal for UR, while Coughlin stopped six shots for the Thoroughbreds.
 
Rochester now moves on to the Liberty League title game which will be played on Saturday.  UR takes on the winner of the other conference semifinal featuring Vassar and Rensselaer.  If Vassar wins, the game will be played in Poughkeepsie, while if RPI upsets the top-seeded Brewers, Fauver Stadium will be the site of the game.