Saturday’s game brought a crucial Patriot League victory for Colgate’s field hockey team against Lehigh with a final score of 3-1. Whether attributed to the home field advantage or to an impressive performance by sophomore Eliana Brown, the game was a much-needed triumph for the Raiders. Brown tallied all three goals for her team, recording her second multi-goal game of the season.

Brown’s first goal of the game came with 13:16 left in the first half on Colgate’s sec-ond penalty corner. Junior Kelsey Jensen had the original shot but it was rebuffed by Le-high’s goalie Sydney Maltinsky. Brown snagged the rebound in the middle of the circle and dove to connect with the ball, placing it just barely inside the far post of the goal.

The Raiders continued their lead with Brown’s second goal of the day with three minutes and 26 seconds remaining of the first half. Her shot was fired from the cen-ter of the circle and was strong enough to plow through a sea of defenders to finally get through Maltinsky to bring the score to 2-0. The team was able to retire to the locker room at halftime with a 9-6 shot advantage and three penalty corners awarded to both sides.

The Lehigh Mountain Hawks emerged in the second half with an early goal 6:37 after play resumed. The goal was tallied by senior forward Kimberly Eng and assisted by sophomore midfielder Steph Fratoni, who sent a long pass from her defensive end of the field. Eng was able to receive the pass behind Colgate’s defensive line where she then proceeded to the circle for a one-on-one battle with sophomore goalie Amanda DiDomizio. Eng avoided a dive from DiDomizio and chipped the ball into the net to cut Colgate’s lead in half.

Brown was ready and back in action less than five minutes after Eng’s goal brought the score to 2-1. Her third goal of the game came after the ball was fed into the circle along the end line where she used a series of superior stickhandling skills to drag the ball around Maltinsky’s dive; this allowed the Raiders to close out the scoring at 3-1.

In total, each team was awarded five penalty corner opportunities, only one of which resulted in a goal. The Raiders emerged dominant with a 16-11 shot advantage over the Mountain Hawks. DiDomizio was solid in net with five saves to earn the win for her team, while Maltinsky took the loss with eight saves in net.

The Raiders will be back at it this coming Saturday as they take on American at 11:00 a.m. for another Patriot League matchup.

Contact Jessica Gorski at [email protected].