POTSDAM, NY – Though they trailed at the half, No. 6 University of Rochester women's soccer earned a come-from-behind victory over the Clarkson University Golden Knights on Sunday afternoon, scoring four second-half goals to come away with a 4-1 victory at Hantz Turf Field.
 
For the first time all season, the Yellowjackets would be forced to play from behind, as just over 11 minutes into the contest, the Golden Knights took an early lead. Natalie Santangelo and Callie Abel each forced early saves by Clarkson's keeper Molly DiCaprio, and Grace Kuropatkin, before a giveaway inside the Golden Knights' attacking zone gave Clarkson a golden opportunity.
 
Clarkson would take advantage and Emily Davis beat Kuropatkin with a shot towards the left post, giving the Golden Knights a 1-0 lead.
 
That lead would hold for the rest of the opening period, as Clarkson limited the 'Jackets to just three total shots after UR peppered St. Lawrence with 20 in their opener on Friday.
 
Just minutes after Davis' score, Claire Grover looked to respond on the other end, but DiCaprio kept Grover's shot out of the back of the net, later doing the same on a shot from Natalie Kocsis just past the 32-minute mark of the first.
 
Rochester headed into halftime down a score, the first time they trailed at the break since Sept. 30, 2023, but quickly got things going in the second half.
 
The 'Jackets fired a salvo of shots at DiCaprio and the Golden Knights' defense early, with a pair coming off the boot of Eileen Harvey, as well as another from Riya Kunderan.
 
Still unable to find the equalizer though, Clarkson countered and looked to double their lead on the other end, with Chloe Hodge and Callie Abel firing a pair of shots on goal at Kuropatkin in the 56th minute, but the senior keeper made a pair of saves to keep the deficit at just one.
 
UR kept on the attack throughout the second half, outshooting Clarkson, 12-4, in the period, and nearly broke through in the 64th minute. A foul on Paige Ford gave Rochester a free kick from a dangerous position just outside the box, and after Harvey's first attempt was blocked by Clarkson's wall, the sophomore's second forced yet another save from DiCaprio.
 
Just over four minutes later though, Rochester would finally break through, scoring both the equalizer and go-ahead score in less than a minute. Kocsis found Maya Bravo with a tremendous thru ball, and with just the keeper to beat, Bravo beat DiCaprio to the near post to knot the score at one-all in the 69th minute.
 
Then just over 30 seconds later, the Yellowjackets found Natalie Santangelo ahead on another tremendous thru ball, and the first-year beat both the keeper and her defender to score the first of two goals and give Rochester the lead.
 
With the 'Jackets now in the lead, Rochester and Clarkson would settle in over the next 10 minutes until UR put the game out of reach with two more scores in the final eight minutes of play.
 
Santangelo added another, this time off Bravo's assist, in the 83rd minute, firing a shot past the keeper towards the far post to double UR's lead. While with Clarkson pressing and few defenders back, looking for a score, Santangelo got on the breakaway and found Sydney Holmes for an easy score to help finish off the 4-1 victory.
 
With the win, the sixth-ranked 'Jackets remain unbeaten at 2-0 on the year, while Clarkson drops to 1-1.
 
Santangelo led UR with two goals coming on four shots and an assist, while Bravo added a goal and an assist on two shots. Holmes scored Rochester's final tally of the afternoon, while Kocsis earned an assist and took one shot.
 
Defensively, Kuropatkin made four saves, playing all 90 minutes in goal.
 
The Yellowjackets next head to Cortland, NY for a matchup against the SUNY Cortland Red Dragons on Saturday, Sept. 7 at 1:00 p.m.