After picking up their first victory of the season, the Raiders came right back to the table with two tough matchups this past week. The Raiders saw weekday action against the Cornell Big Red, where they couldn’t seem to stop the opponent’s attack in a loss. Just three days later, the Raiders fell in a close matchup by just one goal to the Holy Cross Crusaders. Now 1-5 on the season, the Raiders look to pick up play as they dive further into conference play.

Facing upstate New York rival Cornell, the Raiders saw a big game from junior midfielder Megan Ark, who tallied three goals for the third straight game. Ark got the Raiders on the board early and assisted on the next goal to keep the game close. Feeding sophomore attacker Kallan Murray, the Raiders were down just 3-2 with 19 minutes remaining in the first half.

The Big Red attack, however, remained strong and scored five goals throughout the remainder of the half to extend their lead. All the Raiders could muster on the offensive end was a goal from sophomore attacker Taylor Fischer at the 16-minute mark. The Raiders headed into halftime down 8-3, but looked to come out much stronger in the second half.

After watching the Big Red strike first in the second half, Ark scored her second of the game and then saw senior captain Alison Flood chip in with her first of the game just four-and-a-half minutes later.

The Raiders continued trading goals back and forth with the Big Red as Ark and Murray tallied their third and second of the game, respectively. Afterwards, however, the Big Red let the Raiders come no further, rattling off three straight in the final portion of the second half to further their lead to 15-7, which would stand as the final score.

Despite the large scoring output from the Raiders, junior goalie Jennie Berglin continued her strong play in net. Berglin did all she could, making six saves and grabbing three ground balls.

Colgate looked to get back in the scoring column as they travelled to Worcester, Mass. for their next matchup. In what would turn out to be a much more balanced affair, the Raiders jumped out to a quick and early lead, with Fischer striking twice and Ark once for an early 3-0 lead. The Crusaders responded with three goals of their own to tie back up the game before junior defenseman Jenna Frost recorded her second of the season to give the Raiders back the lead.

The Raiders then saw the Crusaders rattle off three consecutive goals in the final seven and a half minutes to head into the locker room with a 6-4 lead.

After watching the Crusaders score just 20 seconds into the second half, the Raiders went on another scoring run. Murray started off the scoring with her first of the game off an assist from first-year midfielder Isabel Kreitler. Murray then assisted on first-year defenseman Sarah Bowles’s fifth of the season. Following suit was sophomore midfielder Lauren Gorajek, whose goal put the Raiders in a tie with the Crusaders.

Holy Cross broke the tie three and a half minutes later to push them back into the lead. Their lead would not last for long, however, as Ark added her second and third just four minutes apart to put the Raiders in the

lead 9-8.

The Raiders defense, however, would not hold and allowed the Crusaders to regain the lead with six-and-a-half minutes remaining. Despite their best offensive efforts in the final minutes, Holy Cross remained strong on defense and held on for the 10-9 victory.

After dropping two in a row, the Raiders look to buck the trend this weekend as they return home to Tyler’s Field for their matchup at 1 p.m. on Saturday, March 15 against the Lehigh Mountain Hawks.               

Contact Spencer Serling at [email protected].