By Aidan Mastandrea
Staff Writer
The College’s field hockey team opened their season against Catholic University at home on Friday, Sept 1. The game went to double overtime and saw the Lions lose 2-1.
Having opened the season ranked 11th in the Division III national coaches poll, the College’s loss was a large upset by way of the Catholic University Cardinals. Prior to the game Friday, the Lions had dominated Catholic, winning all six previous matchups between the two schools, including a 1-0 overtime win just last season.
This year's meeting was reminiscent of the 2022 contest. Both teams were struggling to score early, with the game quickly turning into a defensive battle. The Lions seemed to be in firm control, with three shots on net compared to the Cardinal’s zero in the first quarter.
The momentum quickly switched during the second period, as the Cardinals scored the first goal of the game with six minutes to go in the half. Sophomore Mary Rojack put the goal away for Catholic as they took a 1-0 lead over the College heading into halftime.
“During halftime, we tweaked a few things and knew that we were in control of the game even if the scoreboard did not reflect that,” said the College’s midfielder and junior nursing major, Rayhanah Ahmed.
The Lions used those adjustments to regain command early in the second half. With another six shots in the third quarter, the College was knocking on the door, but they could not find the back of the cage.
Eventually, with only five minutes left, they broke through. Freshman psychology major Codie Sciacca was able to get open and score to even the game up, off of the assist from junior computer science major Claire Engebreth.
For the second year in a row, the game between the College and Catholic headed to overtime. Despite a horde of opportunities from the Lions, Catholic’s Rojack scored her second goal of the game, this time off of a penalty stroke, in the second overtime period to take down the Lions.
While an opening day loss is not what the Lions hoped for, the highly ranked program has plenty of time to right the ship.
“Our team goals for this season are to continue a legacy of playing in the NCAA tournament and win the NJAC title,” said Ahmed. “Using this loss as motivation to fuel our determination throughout the rest of our competitive schedule, I am confident that we can accomplish so much this season”
The College heads to Center Valley, PA on Saturday, Sept 9 to take on DeSales and will look to improve to 1-1 for the season.
