Last week found the Lady Raiders with their hands full, as they took on Central Michigan (September 9) and Kent State (September 10) at Kent State. Unfortunately, both games yielded marks in the ‘losses’ column for Colgate.

Saturday found an optimistic Raiders team ready to take the field. The first goal of the game came deep in the twenty-fifth minute of play, by Central’s Moyra Betuzzi. The score remained unchanged throughout the remainder of the half. A determined Colgate responded within the first minute of play after retaking the field.

Freshman Katelyn Nerbonne passed the ball off to sophomore Amanda Gilmore, resulting in Gilmore’s third goal of the season. But Central would not be taken lightly, recovering with two goals in the fortieth and forty-sixth minutes, respectively.

The story of the day for Colgate was Nerbonne, who found the back of the net with 18:23 and 13:06 left in the game for her first career goals. The first score came off a pass from sophomore Lauren Carey and the latter was served by junior Natali Plesniarski

“[The goal] has provided me with more confidence in the circle and around the net.” Nerbonne said..

However, the 3-3 score did not stand for long as Amanda Lucik and Betuzzi secured the 5-3 win for Central. Central Michigan dominated 25(16)-16(9) in shots (on goal). However, Colgate goalkeeper Jacque DeMarco surpassed Central Michigan keeper Danielle Frank in saves, 11-6.

Sunday was the dawn of a new day for the Raiders, bringing home-field opponent Kent State to the green. Unfortunately, the day would closely resemble Saturday.

The Golden Flashes made their presence known early when, after 16:42 played, Natalie Barrett snuck the ball past DeMarco. This goal came off an assist from Kate Perry, who scored a goal of her own 2:30 later to put the 2-0 on the board. With no answer from Colgate, Golden Flashes forward Elizabeth Lahey added one more point to the score with 0:37 left in the half.

“We definitely started the game slow on Sunday, but in the second half we really picked up the intensity from Saturday’s game. Especially during the last 10 minutes of the game against Kent. Our level of play rose and we were able to put a lot of pressure on their goalie,” Nerbonne said.

This pressure led to two goals for the Raiders; both off penalty corners deep in the second half and both scored by Lauren Carey. The pair of points came just over a minute apart at 63:03 and 64:10 in the game. In addition to her goals, Carey led the team in shooting with six shots. Unfortunately, the 3-2 loss dropped the Raiders’ record to 1-4 for the season.

Despite their losses, the weekend held significance for two of Colgate’s players. As result of her remarkable play on Saturday, Nerbonne was named Patriot League Field Hockey Rookie of the Week. Additionally, both games represented a homecoming for DeMarco who is from Hudson, Ohio. Her 19 saves were her season-high.

The coming weekend finds the Raiders locked in another pair of battles. They will travel to Pennsylvania on September 16 when they take on Lock Haven at 1:00 pm. At noon the following day the Raiders will face-off against St. Francis. September 23 finds the team returning to home field action against West Chester.