Challenges down the stretch

The Dutchwomen snapped a six-game winning streak, dropping their first match of the weekend to St. Lawrence (6-3-3). The loss was particularly painful as it was a Liberty League match. It was their second in a string of six straight against Liberty League opponents to end the season. The following afternoon they faired a little better, tying Clarkson (7-4-1) 1-1. The 0-1-1 record on the weekend dropped the Dutchwomen’s record to 12-2-1 on the season, and 2-2-1 in conference play.  Essentially, that means their only losses have been to conference opponents, as they are 10-0 outside the Liberty League.

Prior to the games this weekend, the Dutchwomen held a 2-1 record against the Liberty League with wins over the current third place team RIT and last place team Bard. After the loss and tie of this weekend, however, the Dutchwomen see themselves in fifth place in their conference. So far they have yet to play the conference leader, William Smith College, who is currently undefeated in conference play at 6-0.

Last season the Dutchwomen had a similar result, posting a respectable record of 13-4, but only mustered a 3-3 record in the Liberty League, and missed the playoffs. So far their dominance against nonconference opponents has yet to carry over into the Liberty League.

This weekend, Union’s attack was shut down as they only managed to scored one goal which came from Lauren Snowden ‘14 in the tie to Clarkson.  During the game against St. Lawrence, they only let up one goal but that was enough to put them away as they lost 1-0. This was a surprise as they have managed to average almost two and a half goals per game on the season.

Mollie Gilchrist ‘15 and Jennifer Mansfield ‘13 have lead the Union attack this season. Gilchrist has 24 points this season, and Mansfield has 16. They each earned Liberty League weekly honors last week. Gilchrist received co-rookie, and Mansfield received offensive player.

The Dutchwomen face William Smith College Saturday at 2 p.m.