This past week, the Colgate field hockey team played tough games against Siena College, Lock Haven University and Saint Francis University. While the Raiders started the week strong with a 1-0 win against Siena, they ultimately fell to Lock Haven 0-1 in double overtime and again to Saint Francis with a final score of 2-6. 

Colgate exercised strong offense in the game against Siena, controlling the pace of the play for the majority of the game. The Siena Saints were unable to counter the Raiders’ strong attack with only one shot on goal for the entire game at 60 minutes in. Sophomore forward Iona MacKillop scored the game-winning goal for Colgate at 8:55 into the second half. 

Field hockey head coach April Cornell commented on the team’s success in the game against Siena.

“Today was a total team effort. We wanted to come out and play a full 70 minutes, and we wanted to play our tempo to set the pace of the game. We really did a good job of doing that; anytime that we had any kind of defensive pressure on us, our backfield was able to settle, regain our composure and come back on attack,” Cornell said.

The Raiders came off their win against Siena with another great game against Lock Haven University. Both teams battled back and forth throughout regulation and into two overtime sessions in order to decide a winner. Colgate’s senior goalkeeper Maria Krull made an impressive 17 saves for the Raiders and the game remained tied at 0-0 until the Lock Haven Bald Eagles scored the game-winning goal with just 2:11 left in the second overtime, earning a 1-0 win.

“I can’t say enough for Maria and how important she is; she’s a competitor and is somebody that is going to keep us in every single game. For us, knowing that we really have that steadiness back there and the defense has a goalkeeper that they really trust is huge. She’s just a phenomenal player back there and had some amazing saves,” Cornell said.

Colgate field hockey ended the week with another hard-fought game against Saint Francis University. The Raiders started off the game strong with first-year midfielder Anne Marijn Bruijn scoring the first goal of the game. Saint Francis answered with a goal of its own, ending the first half with a tie. Colgate was once again able to gain a 2-1 lead at the beginning of the second half with a goal by first-year midfielder Meghan Minturn. However, Saint Francis was able to respond with five consecutive goals, winning the game 6-2. 

“It was a really intense schedule the last week, but it was good for us because there is a lot that we saw in our development and our game. Today was a tough game for us; I think mentally the fatigue set in more than anything. We are a fit team and we’re able to play with anybody at anytime, we showed that in the double overtime game with Lock Haven, but it’s the mental fatigue that wears down once you start to get tired in the second half,” Cornell said.

The Raiders return to the field this Saturday, September 16, opening Patriot League play with a trip to Easton, Pennsylvania, to compete against the  Lafayette Leopards in what should be a well-fought contest at Rappolt Field at noon. The game will be live streamed on the Colgate Athletics website.

Contact Kendall Robinson at kgrobinson@colgate.edu.