| Union vs. Ithaca - Liberty League Semifinals |
| Friday, November 7, 2025 • Schenectady, N.Y. • Frank Bailey Field at Bertagna-Class of 1985 Stadium • 4:00 PM |
| Live Stats • Video Stream • Tournament Webpage |
SCHENECTADY, N.Y. – For the second straight season, the Union College field hockey team has earned a share of the Liberty League regular-season title and will host third-seeded Ithaca College in the Liberty League Tournament semifinals at Frank Bailey Field at Bertagna-Class of 1985 Stadium on Friday at 4 p.m.
ALL TOGETHER NOW: The field hockey team was joined at the start of the postseason this fall by the men's and women's soccer teams and the women's volleyball team; this marks the first time since 2009 that all four Union fall sports qualified for the postseason in the same year. Combined with the football team's unbeaten conference slate so far, Union is the only Liberty League school to have all five sports still in contention for a conference title as the calendar turns to November.
THE TEAMS: Union (12-7, 5-2 Liberty League) finished in a tie for first in the conference standings and is seeded second in the Liberty League Tournament. The Garnet Chargers will face off with third-seeded Ithaca (12-6, 4-3 Liberty League), who finished atop a three-way tie for third place, in one semifinal. The other semifinal pits top-seeded Vassar College (11-6, 5-2 Liberty League) against fourth-seeded William Smith College (11-8, 4-3 Liberty League), who defeated fifth-seeded University of Rochester by a 1-0 (OT) score in Tuesday's first-round matchup.
POSTSEASON HISTORY: Union is making its eighth appearance in the Liberty League Tournament and third straight after going 13 years between postseason berths. The Garnet Chargers have never won a conference tournament game (0-7) and have lost their last 13 postseason contests overall, with the team's last taste of postseason success coming in 1988, when Union captured the ECAC Mid-Atlantic Tournament title and also went 2-1 at the NYSWCAA Championships on the way to a program-record 17 wins.
UNION VS. ITHACA: Union is 2-8 in 10 all-time meetings with Ithaca, including a 2-6 mark since the Bombers joined the Liberty League in 2017. Both of Union's victories over the Bombers have come in Schenectady, including a 2-1 win earlier this season.
LAST MEETING: Union started off conference play with a 2-1 win over then-#22 Ithaca on September 27, breaking a six-game losing streak to the Bombers. Junior
Maddie Greco scored both Union goals and senior
Sophie Brady made two saves in the comeback win, which saw the home team trail 1-0 at the half. The teams combined for just 10 shots in a defensive battle, with Greco's two goals and Brady's two saves providing the difference over the final 30 minutes.
ABOUT UNION: The Garnet Chargers finished the regular season with a 12-7 record and 5-2 conference mark, matching its highest Liberty League finish in program history and matching the third-most wins in a season overall.
GOAL ORIENTED: For the fourth straight season, Union is leading the Liberty League in scoring and ranks 17th nationally by averaging 3.55 goals per game in 2025, having scored 67 goals in 19 games. The team's 67 goals have smashed the previous program record of 59 set in 2007, helped by a program-record 14 different players recording at least one goal this season. Union boasts four of the top-11 goal scorers in the Liberty League in 2025, led by junior
Maddie Greco with 15 goals (2nd). Junior
Reese Fendelet and first-year
Ellie Innes are tied for sixth with eight goals, followed by junior
Amy Vytopilova in a tie for ninth place with seven.
SENIOR CLASS SUCCESS: This year's senior class -
Sophie Brady,
Kat Bruun and
Megan Dorsey - will graduate as the most successful in program history, as the team's 48 wins over the last four seasons are the most ever for Union field hockey in a four-year span. The team enters the postseason having also matched program standards for wins over a two-year span (26) and three-year span (37) as well. In addition, the team's 15 Liberty League wins over the last three years match the program's combined total from the previous 11 years combined.
CLIMBING THE RANKS: Several Union players have already made their marks on the Union field hockey record books:
- Junior
Maddie Greco became the school's all-time leader in career goals and points earlier this year and brings a total of 48 goals and 11 assists for 107 points into the postseason. She also needs one game-winning goal to tie Kelsey Powers '11 for first place on that list as well.
- Senior goalie
Sophie Brady is the school's all-time leader in career wins (34) and also ranks sixth in goals against average (1.73) and seventh in total saves (265).
- Senior
Megan Dorsey broke the school record for career assists last season and enters the postseason with 29 career helpers, while also sitting in a tie for seventh place all-time with 71 points.
ABOUT THE BOMBERS: Ithaca started the season nationally ranked and remained in the top-25 for the first five weeks of the year, reaching as high as 18th nationally. The Bombers rank sixth in the Liberty League by averaging 2.0 goals per game but also have the conference's stingiest defense, allowing just 13 goals in 18 games to rank sixth nationally in goals against average and ninth in save percentage. Goalie Maeve Clark leads the Liberty League and ranks 10th in Division III in goals against average (0.86), while also ranking second in the conference and 20th nationally in save percentage (.822)
WHAT'S NEXT: The Union-Ithaca winner will advance to the Liberty League Tournament championship game on Sunday, hosted by the highest remaining seed.
2025 Liberty League Tournament
First Round – Tuesday, November 4, 2025
#4 William Smith 1, #5 Rochester 0 (OT)
Semifinal Round – Friday, November 7, 2025
#4 William Smith at #1 Vassar, 4 pm
#3 Ithaca at #2 Union, 4 pm
Championship Game – Sunday, November 9, 2025
Semifinal Winners at highest remaining seed
