The Colgate field hockey team stepped it up this week, tallying two wins against Siena and St. Francis (Pa.) and one double overtime loss to Lock Haven.

The Wednesday night game against Siena kicked off the challenging weekend. The teams played evenly for the first half of the competition, with each team post­ing five shots. Colgate maintained a tough defense, blocking four corners in the first 15 minutes of play.

The second half was all about offense for the Raiders. Senior Peyton Hawkins and sophomore Halle Biggar both attacked the goal but were unable to slip a shot through. Hawkins persisted despite the early denial and, with 20:20 left in the game, she found the back of the net to give Colgate a 1-0 lead.

The Saints reacted and put pressure on the Raider goal, but first-year Amanda DiDomizio was able to reject two back-to-back shots on a penalty corner to ensure a Colgate win.

With momentum from its victory over Siena, the team was prepared to take Lock Haven on. Despite the Eagles’s early con­trol of play, Colgate was able to score on a beautiful pass by sophomore Olivia Nab­han that passed across the goal mouth. Ju­nior Lauren Dittman picked it up at the far post and shot to tie the score at 1-1.

Lock Haven responded less than five minutes later with a shot that slipped over DiDomizio’s arm. Determined to keep up, the Raiders tied the game with less than ten minutes remaining when Dittman re­bounded one of her own blocked shots and followed through to score Colgate’s second of the competition.

Dittman’s goal took the teams into over­time, where the teams played evenly, each earning three penalty corners apiece. Nei­ther squad was able to score until Lock Haven slipped a goal past DiDomizio in double overtime to end the game.

The Lock Haven loss was tough, but Colgate walked back onto Tyler’s Field Sat­urday afternoon determined to take a win off St. Francis. The Raiders took the early lead when first-year Eliana Brown scored off a deflected pass 16 minutes into the game. St. Francis waited until the second half to bombard the Colgate goal, scoring three within the first seven minutes.

The Raiders felt the pressure down the stretch, but were able to respond with a shot off a penalty corner that flew through traffic to the top of the net made by Hawkins to tie the score at two apiece.

Both teams struggled to take definitive possession of the ball at the beginning of the overtime period, but as soon as the op­portunity arose, Colgate took advantage. Biggar scored the game-winner after a shot deflected by the St. Francis goalie. Laid out on the turf, the goalie quickly got up, but she was too late. Biggar had already found the ball and put it to the back of the net to secure the Colgate victory.

The Raiders hit the road again to play against Bryant and Brown this weekend. The Bryant game will take place at 11 a.m. on Saturday in Smithfield, Rhode Island, and Colgate will take on Brown at noon on Sunday in Providence, Rhode Island.

Contact Emma Barge at

[email protected].