By Otto Gomez
Correspondent
As students, we are told to get ahead early in the year so we do not fall behind. Professors want us to start doing well right from the beginning of the semester — in this way, we gain confidence as the year goes on, leading to our success.
The same metaphor can be applied to sports, and the field hockey team executed the plan perfectly. With seven quick goals before halftime, the Lions built an insurmountable lead that they kept until the end of the game, eventually finishing off the Stevens Institute of Technology Ducks 7-2 on Friday, Aug. 29.
Coach Sarah Pfluger was enthusiastic about their quick start.
“We always want to get off to a strong start,” she said. “We were just clicking tonight and our team did really well. I’m real proud of them. We are lucky enough to have a lot of our players back from last year and that’s going to really help us this year.”
The team brings back impact seniors Erin Waller, Lindsey Hatch and Erin Healy, among others. Healy, with her goal on Friday, is now one point away from becoming the 17th player in the College’s history to score 100 points for the field hockey team.
The Lions started strong on Friday, with Jaclyn Douglas scoring three goals in the first 10 minutes of play. Douglas, a returning sophomore, said their goal was to go up early and to never look back.
“The entire team plays like this. That was our goal,” Douglas said when asked about her three quick goals. “We want to score in the first 30 seconds of the game. We want to move everyone up and have our backfield be right there too. Tonight, we executed, and as a team, we were working.”
After the first three goals, the Lions proceeded to score four more in the next 10 minutes — two of which were sunk by Waller, with Healy and Hatch scoring a goal apiece. As the half ended, the Lions began making substitutions to give some of the younger players minutes and, more importantly, to have them face decent competition early in the season.
The team also had extra motivation after a devastating loss against Steven’s last year when they were defeated 2-1. Pfluger made a point to her team that it was important for them to avenge themselves and set the tone for the rest of the division and the rest of the conference. The team faces Manhattanville College at home on Tuesday, Sept. 2, at 7:30 p.m.
