By Joe Caruso
Staff Writer
The College’s field hockey team looked to continue its long history of success as it opened up against Catholic University on Sunday, Sept 1. The Lions came out on top 5-0.
Coming into the year, the Lions were ranked second in the New Jersey Athletic Conference preseason poll, as they came off back-to-back NJAC Championship appearances. With a plethora of returning talent, and head coach Sharon Pfluger going into her 38th season at the helm, the College will look to secure its first title since 2019.
The Cardinals are impressive themselves, finishing with a conference record of 8-1 and 12-5 overall a season ago.
Through the first 25 minutes, the game was knotted up at zero. However, the Lions continued to put pressure on the Cardinal defense with 11 first-half shots compared to zero for Catholic. As a result, they finally broke through.
In the 27th minute, sophomore psychology major Jadyn Huff scored her first of three goals in the afternoon. Before the first half came to a close, senior computer science major Claire Engebreth scored to make it 2-0 in favor of the College heading into the halftime locker room.
In the second half, the Lions picked up right where they left off, as Huff scored again to make it 3-0. Huff’s goal came off of another assist from Engebreth, who totaled three in the game. Huff scored again in the 47th minute, and then senior kinesiology and health sciences major Bella DiNardo put the finishing touches on to make it 5-0.
It was utter domination from the College, who allowed just one shot on goal all game from the Cardinals, compared to the 18 from the Lions themselves. With that being said, it was a nice day for junior goalkeeper Brigitte Racey, who needed to make just one save for her fourth career shutout.
Huff and Engebreth took NJAC home Offensive and Defensive player of the Week, respectively.
The College will look to continue their winning ways when DeSales University comes to visit for the Lions home opener on Friday, Sept. 6.
