Looking to win its first season opener in two years, the Colgate field hockey team did just that, as they rolled over Siena last Saturday by a score of 5-1 in front of 389 fans. Just three days later, the Raiders took on local rival Syracuse University, hoping to make up for their disappointing 6-4 loss last season. However, Colgate was no match for the nationally-ranked powerhouse and dropped a frustrating 12-0 decision.

In Saturday’s game, which was broadcast live on the Time Warner Sports Channel, junior midfielder Mika Ella-Tang opened scoring for the Raiders less than 10 minutes into the contest. Only three minutes later, senior co-captain Laura Flisnik set up sophomore forward Rebecca Anderson, who then scored the first of her two goals that night. Neither team was able to produce a goal for the rest of the first half, allowing Colgate to enter the final 35 minutes of play with a 2-0 lead.

“After ending the first half ahead, the whole team was so pumped to get back into the game and keep up our lead,” sophomore forward Rebecca Anderson said. “We knew that if we kept playing at the level we had in the first half, there was no way Siena could come back to win.”

Quickly picking up from where it left off, Colgate scored goal number three, and Anderson’s second goal of the game, less than 10 minutes into the second half. The Raiders scored once more with under five minutes of play remaining, when sophomore midfielder Alison Waugh scored off a rebound from sophomore forward Laura Denenga’s shot. Proving they would not give up without a fight, Siena spoiled Colgate’s hopes of a shutout when they scored on relief sophomore goalkeeper Kirsten Lalli with just a few minutes left on the clock. Not yet finished, Colgate drew a penalty corner as time expired. Upon perfect execution of the corner play, senior defender Lauren Carey fired a powerful shot resulting in the final goal of the game.

A mere three days later in Syracuse, the Raider’s took on #18 Syracuse University, who had just come off a convincing 5-0 win over fifth-ranked Old Dominion University. It took Syracuse less than five minutes to get on the board, and there was no turning back. Two minutes later the Orange scored again, and then once more at the 13:09 mark on a penalty stroke. Despite the relentless efforts put forth by the Raiders, Syracuse showed that they would not let up, as they would go on to score three more unanswered goals to close out the first half with a convincing 6-0 lead.

Not much would change in the second half, as the Orange scored six more unanswered goals to deal Colgate its first loss of the season.

“We knew Syracuse was going to have a talented team this year, and that we would need to bring our best game to be able to compete with them,” senior co-captain Laura Flisnik shared. “The most important thing our team can take from this loss is that it is still early in the season and that we need to use this as a jumping point to begin a winning streak.”

Luckily, the Raiders will have the perfect opportunity to begin their winning streak this weekend as they head to Long Branch, New Jersey to take on Monmouth University on Saturday at 4 p.m. and then Rider University on Sunday at 11 a.m.