PREVIEW: Union Heads to Vassar for First Conference Title Game

Angela Sosa

Field Hockey 11/9/2025 7:00:00 AM Steve Sheridan, Assistant Athletic Director for Communications

PREVIEW: Union Heads to Vassar for First Conference Title Game

Union at Vassar - Liberty League Championship Sunday, November 9, 2025 • Poughkeepsie, N.Y. • Weinberg Turf Field • 2:00 PM Live Stats • Video Stream • Tournament Webpage

SCHENECTADY, N.Y. – For the first time in program history, the Union College field hockey team will fight for a Liberty League title on Sunday afternoon as the second-seeded Garnet Chargers head to Poughkeepsie to face off with top-seeded Vassar College in the Liberty League Championship game at 2 p.m. at Vassar's Weinberg Turf Field.

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 (13-7, 5-2 Liberty League) and Vassar (12-6, 5-2 Liberty League) finished in a tie for first in the conference standings and shared the regular-season title, with Vassar's head-to-head victory earlier this season the reason that Sunday's game is in Poughkeepsie and not Schenectady. Both teams advanced with 2-1 wins in the semifinals on Friday, as the Garnet Chargers defeated third-seeded Ithaca College and Vassar came back to defeat fourth-seeded William Smith College.

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' victory over the Bombers marked Union's first-ever conference tournament victory (1-7) and snapped a string of 13 straight postseason losses that dated back to the 1988 season, a year that saw Union capture the ECAC Mid-Atlantic Tournament title and also go 2-1 at the NYSWCAA Championships on the way to a program-record 17 wins.

UNION VS. VASSAR: Sunday's game will be the 50th all-time meeting between the two schools, with Union holding a 33-16 edge in the all-time series. Union won 22 of the first 23 meetings to skew the results, while Vassar has won seven of the last eight contests between the two schools. The Garnet Chargers' last win over the Brewers came last season in Poughkeepsie, a 3-0 victory that saw the visitors out-shoot the home team by a 14-3 margin. The teams have met once in the postseason, with Vassar posting a 2-1 win in the first round of the 2023 Liberty League Tournament.

LAST MEETING: Union's first blemish of the conference slate came at the hands of the Brewers on October 5 in a 2-1 defeat in Schenectady. The home team dominated play in the first half, posting a 12-2 edge in penalty corners and firing 10 shots toward the Vassar net, but Grace Wiley made six first-half stops to keep her team in the game as the Brewers scored once in both the second and third periods to take control. Junior Rachel Ostiguy got Union back within a goal early in the fourth frame, but the home team could not find the tying goal.

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. The team's 13 wins overall so far this season are tied for the fourth-most in a season in program history and are one away from matching the second-highest total ever for a Union squad.

GOAL ORIENTED: For the fourth straight season, Union is leading the Liberty League in scoring and ranks 24th nationally by averaging 3.45 goals per game in 2025, having scored 69 goals in 20 games. The team's 69 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 eighth with eight goals, followed by junior Amy Vytopilova in a tie for 10th 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 49 wins over the last four seasons are the most ever for Union field hockey in a four-year span. The team enters Sunday's final having also set new program standards for wins over a two-year span (27) and three-year span (38) 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 13 assists for 109 points into Sunday. 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 (35) and also ranks sixth in goals against average (1.71) and seventh in total saves (269).

- Senior Megan Dorsey broke the school record for career assists last season and enters Sunday with 29 career helpers, while also sitting in a tie for seventh place all-time with 71 points.

ABOUT THE BREWERS: Vassar ranks third in the Liberty League by averaging 2.89 goals per game, led by Zoe Robinson with 12 goals and an assist for 25 points. Robinson and teammate Karina Hoffman (nine goals, four assists) rank third and fourth in the conference in points per game this season, and Robinson's five game-winning tallies are tops among all conference players. Grace Wiley ranks third in the conference with a 1.01 goals against average and sixth with a .750 save percentage, while only being called on to make 2.83 saves per contest. As a team, Vassar has allowed 21 goals in 18 games, third-best among conference squads.

WHAT'S NEXT: The Union-Vassar winner will earn the Liberty League's automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament, with selections announced on Sunday evening.

2025 Liberty League Tournament

First Round – Tuesday, November 4, 2025

#4 William Smith 1, #5 Rochester 0 (OT)

Semifinal Round – Friday, November 7, 2025

#1 Vassar 2, #4 William Smith 2

#2 Union 2, #3 Ithaca 1

Championship Game – Sunday, November 9, 2025

#2 Union at #1 Vassar, 2:00 p.m.

Players Mentioned

#00 Sophie Brady

GK

5' 7"

Senior

#23 Kat Bruun

D

5' 5"

Senior

#13 Megan Dorsey

M

5' 10"

Senior

#10 Reese Fendelet

F

5' 10"

Junior

#14 Maddie Greco

F

5' 4"

Junior

#20 Rachel Ostiguy

F

5' 7"

Junior

#4 Amy Vytopilova

F

5' 5"

Junior

#22 Ellie Innes

F

5' 4"

First Year

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