ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y. - The rain was coming down in sheets at times, and blowing sideways. Wind chills were in the high 30s. It was nasty out there.

Playing against the wind in the first half, the Bard College women's soccer team hadn't produced much. But it was scoreless at the break, and the Raptors were going to have that gusting, soaking wind at their backs in the second half.

It paid off immediately with a goal early in the second half, and those few who attended had to figure that was going to be it. How was Utica going to score against that wind?

Well, Utica did score against the wind. So it took a beautiful shot from Isabel Keddy-Hector in the 75th minute to break a 1-1 tie and lift Bard to a 2-1 non-league victory on Wednesday night.

Abbey Labrecque had given Bard the lead in the 50th minute. She took a pass from Victoria Castiglione on the left wing, ran toward the goal line, then cut back inside a Utica defender and roofed a rocket over the head of Utica keeper Keri Berkowitz (Racine, WI).

The Pioneers tied it with the rain literally hitting them in the face due to the wind. Alana Fitzpatrick (Cheshire, CT) found Maddisen Melley (Wappingers Falls, NY) streaking down the right side, and Melley beat Bard keeper Kelsey O'Brien to the far post from 18 yards to knot it at 1-1 in the 69th minute.

Bard, which had carried the better of the possession in the second half with an assist from the elements, responded with some pressure over the next few minutes. A corner kick from Keddy-Hector was headed out of danger, but Bard kept possession at midfield and tried to punch it back into the box. The ball deflected over to Keddy-Hector on the left wing, and she hit a high arcing shot from 25 yards that bent right over Berkowitz's head and inside the far post.

Nobody figured a game played in those conditions would come down to a quality shot like that, but nobody cared, because nobody wanted to stay out there for overtime.

It was the last home game of the careers of Castiglione, Joanna Regan, Hallie Nolan and Simone Leitner. The Raptors have one game left in 2014 - at Vassar next Tuesday afternoon.