PRINCE ATHLETIC COMPLEX – Playing in its second straight overtime game, the University of Rochester field hockey team edged visiting Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute 1-0 in the 63rd minute of a Liberty League conference contest on Sunday evening at Fauver Stadium.
 
Junior Delainey Hebble scored the game-winner, hitting a low, skidding shot from the edge of the circle into the bottom right corner of the cage in the third minute of the extra session.
 
Hebble's goal, her third of the season, pushed UR's record to 11-4 overall and 4-1 in the Liberty League. RPI drops to 6-8 overall and 0-5 in the conference, with the Engineers falling in their third straight overtime contest in league play.
 
In the current Liberty League standings, Rochester is tied for second at 4-1 with William Smith College, with the Yellowjackets owning the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Herons. Up next for Rochester is a matchup on Friday at 4 pm with league-leading Ithaca at Fauver Stadium.
 
On Sunday, the Yellowjackets earned the games first good scoring chance just two and a half minutes into the opening quarter. On a penalty corner, Nikki Mercer deflected a Zoe Conomikes shot on target, but defender Mikayla Berman was guarding the goal line and swept the ball away for a defensive save.
 
The rebound came out to Hebble, but her shot sailed wide. Those two chances were the only shots of the first quarter and the teams stayed tied 0-0 after 15 minutes.
 

In the second, the Yellowjackets had a good stretch of offensive pressure in the 26th minute, but RPI keeper Sarah Nace made a couple nice saves to keep the clean sheet going.
 
RPI's first penalty corner of the game yielded the first shot of the contest for the Engineers just before halftime. The attempt off the stick of Rachel Banister was saved away by UR goalie Helen Schmitter as the halftime buzzer sounded.
 
Much of the third quarter was played in the midfield as the teams battled back-and-forth. The Engineers broke through with some solid play in the offensive zone late in the period, earning four shots over the final two minutes.
 
Schmitter denied Dani Samuelson twice in the stretch, also turning away a shot by Abby Peterson following a penalty corner. The fourth attempt was a shot by Kaitlyn Stulen, which defender Elisabeth Sidorski prevented from going into the goal.
 
During the fourth quarter, Rochester dominated possession and outshot the Engineers 10-0, but the visitors stood tall thanks to Nace in goal and Berman who made two more defensive saves, finishing with three on the day.
 
In the 52nd minute, Conomikes had a left-wing blast get through the defense and Nace, but Berman cleaned up the ball at the right post.
 
Less than a minute later, a penalty corner deflection by Mara Heppard trickled towards the goal line, but Berman and a slew of Engineer defenders kept the ball out of the net in a massive scramble in front.
 
With time ticking away, Conomikes used a turnover deep in RPI territory to earn another set of scoring opportunities in the 58th minute. The junior attacker blasted two hard shots which were saved by Nace and took the third rebound attempt and clanged it off the left post, allowing the game to remain scoreless.
 
In the extra session, RPI earned the first penalty corner just 26 seconds in. The corner led to a shot by Peterson, but Schmitter had a clean look and made the pad save.
 
Two minutes later at the other end, a great individual play from Hebble ended it, as she juked around a defender and found the cage with her shot one step inside the circle.