Anna Steps took the ball after about 7 minutes had run off in overtime. Seeing an opening she dashed into Colgate’s scoring circle dodged one player and saw a space between the Maria Krull, the excellent Colgate goalkeeper and one of her teammates. With a quick stroke, the Lafayette faithful were treated to the satisfying smack of the ball hitting the backboard. It was suddenly over and the Leopards emerged victorious with a 5-1 record and 1-0 in League.
The Leopards outshot the Raiders 27-6. They out cornered Colgate 13-3 but alas as the clock wound down to 00 in regulation time the score was tied. The first half looked for a moment like the rest of the game would turn into a multi-goal win. Both teams probed all first half with each side looking for weaknesses. The sun had begun to cook the astroturf and temperatures began to rise on the field and in the game. Nineteen Leopards saw action while seventeen raiders made it onto the turf.
Late in the first period the Leopards began to make inroads. The Raiders had basically formed a solid wall inside the circle making shots more directly at the goalie difficult. As Ellen Colbourne, the Lafayette captain and speedy midfielder remarked,” The Colgate goalie had an excellent game and everything we shot from the front wasn’t going to work, it became obvious goals would be scored from the side and on rebounds.”
And thats, indeed how it happened. The Colgate defense began to break down and the first signs happened as Adriana Pero was able to get into the circle. Shortly thereafter after a corner, Sam Di Maio finished a rebound off the right side. It was about 2 minutes later that Rosie Shanks received the ball from DiMaio and slammed it past Krull as she moved to protect from a another DiMaio shot.
With a 2-0 lead the Leopards looked like this was to be a comfortable win but Colgate’s Michaela Corvi came to play, and found the back of the cage after a long pass got her behind a Lafayette defender at 40:59. Exactly 6 minutes later the Raiders knotted the score on a Molly Klare penalty stroke.The Leopards were determined not going to lose this one, but first had to overcome two late penalties which left them down two players for nearly the last 5 minutes of the game.
Speaking to Lafayette defender Lisa Van der Geest after the game she said,” We wanted this game and stuck together to get the win.” With about 8 minutes left in the first overtime, Anna Steps, the third Leopard to score, created her heroics planting the winning goal past the Colgate keeper.
Next up is 4-1 Cornell in a Patriot League vs Ivy League match up. Cornell’s last outing ended in their first loss of the season to ranked Rutgers. Game time is 7pm at Rappolt on Monday!
Lafayette College Field Hockey 