After a difficult pair of games against Le­high and American, the Colgate field hockey team found its footing when it secured a 3-1 win over Holy Cross on Saturday. Sunday was not so kind, however, and the Raiders unfor­tunately fell in their fifth overtime decision of the season after Harvard took a 3-2 tally.

Sophomore Halle Biggar and juniors Adriana Libutti and Lauren Dittman each tallied one of the three Colgate goals, while teammate Olivia Nabhan recorded an assist. First-year goalie Amanda DiDomizio took the victory with seven saves when the clock ran down.

The Raiders came out strong with two goals in the first 15 minutes of play. The first tally came on an unassisted shot by Biggar from right in front of the cage about 10 min­utes into the tilt. Dittman blasted a shot from the top of the circle on a penalty corner for the second. Libutti recorded the assist.

Holy Cross fought back and pushed the score to 2-1 only three minutes after Colgate’s second goal was netted. The teams went shot for shot for the rest of the game with 11 apiece and the Crusaders gaining the 8-5 advantage in penalty corners midway through the game.

Back on the field, the Raiders were deter­mined to lock away their first conference win. Libutti recorded her first goal of the season af­ter taking advantage of a scramble in front of the cage to give Colgate the two-goal lead at 3-1. Despite the Crusaders’s effort to bounce back, the Raiders held them down and walked away with a win. Holy Cross outshot Col­gate 19-17 and took the 14-9 advantage on penalty corners but was still unable to seal the deal.

The Raiders went into Sunday’s game against Harvard with the momentum of a conference victory under their wings, but lost in an overtime round in a 3-1 decision. Once again, Biggar and Dittman contributed on of­fense with one goal apiece, assisted by Libutti and junior Kendall Zaharris.

Only one tally was scored in the first half of play, when Harvard hit the scoreboard first with an unassisted goal recorded 16 minutes into the competition.

In the second half, Dittman marked her seventh score of the season on a penalty cor­ner just 2:39 in to tie the game at 1-1. The teams played competitively until Biggar shot the breakaway goal with only 14:58 remain­ing in the tilt. With a little wiggle room, Colgate relaxed and Harvard took advantage right away. The Crimson shot at DiDomizio and scored on their next rush up field only 44 seconds after Biggar’s goal.

The teams entered overtime thirsty for a win. It was Harvard that capitalized first, however, and scored at the 1:16 mark of the extra frame.

Ultimately, the Crimson took a 25-14 shot advantage over Colgate and recorded 14 corners in the game while the Raiders ended the game with nine corners, six of which were earned in the second half.

Colgate will play at home for the last time this season on Saturday against Bucknell for Senior Day. The game is slated to begin at 11:00 a.m.

Contact Emma Barge at [email protected].