Senior Halle Biggar #12 scored her 10th goal of the season in Colgate’s game against Harvard Sunday afternoon. (Photo by Bob Cornell)
By Matt Faulkner
(Hamilton, NY – Oct. 20, 2013) Colgate saw Harvard notch two goals in the final 10 minutes to ultimately secure a 5-2 victory over the field hockey team on Sunday afternoon.
“We struggled today to generate consistent offense,” Colgate head coach Cathy Foto said. “Yesterday was such an emotional game that it was hard to produce that same intensity and focus today. The kids know that and they were disappointed with the overall outcome but it gave us an opportunity to play in back-to-back games. Getting into the Patriot League Tournament would be a two-day event. I think it was good for us to see where we are in a two-day format and now we will just learn from that.”
Colgate (3-12) received goals in each half from seniors Kelsey Jensen and Halle Biggar. Fellow classmate Caitlin Zolet earned the start in net notching two saves throughout the contest.
Harvard (5-6) saw Marissa Balleza and Rachel Rosenfeld tally two goals each while Kaitlyn Boudah registered the middle marker. Jenn Harfield pushed aside six shots in her fifth win of the season.
Crimson took the early lead 11 minutes into the contest on the first shot of the game. Catriona McDonald made a move along the end line and Zolet came out to challenge. As McDonald fell over the Colgate keeper she slid a pass to Balleza, who tapped it into the open net for the 1-0 lead.
Balleza gave Harvard a two-goal lead with her second of the day. She stole the ball on a breakout from Colgate and fired a shot high and over the out-stretched arm of Zolet for the unassisted score.
Colgate got back to within one, at 2-1, with Jensen scoring on a penalty corner. The Raiders set up a play to fake an initial shot from Rebecca Libutti. Eliana Brown then shoveled a pass over to Jensen and the senior blasted a low shot past Hatfield to cut the deficit in half.
Harvard got its two goal lead back with 23 minutes left in the second half when Boudah connected on a tip in front of Zolet. McDonald made the entry shot into the circle and Boudah was able to get her stick on it for the 3-1 lead.
Biggar got the Raiders back to within one at 3-2 with just over 10 minutes left in the game. Colgate was putting a lot of pressure on the Harvard defense and it paid off. Brown fired a shot from the outside that Hatfield stopped, but Biggar stuck with it and put it home.
Rosenfeld single-handily answered for the Crimson with two goals over the next three minutes. The first came on a penalty corner and was 1:06 after Biggar’s tally. Elizabeth Jacobson made a nice pass through the Colgate defense and Rosenfeld was waiting at the far post to tip it in. The next score to make it 5-2 Harvard was created by Caitlin Rea. She drove to the goal from the right side and found Rosenfeld in front for the goal for the game’s final marker.
Harvard held the slight edge on shots 16-13 but the Raiders had the advantage on penalty corners 8-5.
Colgate is back in league play next Saturday with a visit to Lafayette. It’s a big game for both teams as each are in the hunt for the final Patriot League Tournament spot.