Last weekend, the Raiders took the field with their game faces on, ready for wins as they hosted Central Michigan on Saturday and Columbia on Sunday at Tyler’s Field.

After starting late due to inclement weather Saturday, Colgate took an early lead at 12:35. Junior Lauren Carey nailed one to the back of the cage off a penalty corner after receiving the ball from senior Natali Plesniarski via junior Maddie Watrobski. Central Michigan followed close behind, evening the score at 1-1 three minutes later.

“Our team’s state of mind going into a game is always to get after them,” Carey said. “The first thing we try to do is go right at them and go hard to get the momentum going our way; it was no different this weekend.”

Colgate’s second and final goal came at the end of the first half. Senior Lauren Remkus drew Central Michigan goalie Kahla Schwall out of the goal and passed the ball to sophomore Katelyn Nerbonne, who whipped it into the cage unopposed.

Despite efforts on both sides, neither team scored in the second half, giving Colgate the 2-1 win.

“Central Michigan was the first time that there was a true sense of victory [for the team],” Carey remarked. “Everything just came together and felt great and all we did was carry that into the next game.”

Sunday brought rain to Hamilton once again as the ladies looked to repeat their triumph from the previous day. However, Columbia appeared to be a better match of competition for the Raiders. Both sides were evenly matched throughout the enitre game. At 53:07, first-year Laura Denenga took the ball down the field, drawing to the left side of the circle. She passed to Remkus, who took on Columbia goalie Gena Miller one-on-one. After a quick challenge, Remkus slipped the ball into the cage’s left side. Despite a Columbia rally, this would remain the game’s only goal, giving Colgate its third win this year.

“At this point, I am very optimistic for the season,” junior Laura Flisnik noted.”We are entering our weekend games on a three-game winning streak; taking that momentum with us is key to more win this season.”

The ladies will be seeing double again this week as they host St. Francis on Friday at 4:00 pm and Lock Haven the next day at 1:00 p.m. Both games will be at Tyler’s Field. Field hockey is now 3-2 on the season after these two wins.