For most Lafayette Fans Brown means Lehigh but the Leopard’s Field Hockey team played their first game ever against Brown University on Sunday. The Leopards brought home a 2-1 victory in overtime with a Lineke Spanns’ strike at the 67:36 mark. It was a back and fourth struggle as the Leopards had just completed an important game with Boston University on Saturday. But this group just sucked it up and played a tough game against an Ivy League Team who themselves were riding a 3 game win streak, plus an equally long shutout record.
The Brown captain and ace player Dani van Rootselaar was the main antagonist as she dominated play. for the Browns taking a leading 7 shots during the contest. Countering that was Leineke Spann’s three shots, one of course being the game winner in overtime.
Lafayette opened scoring with Alix Talkow being at the right place at the right time at 3:29, knocking a loose ball into the net to give the Leopards the early lead. The rest of quarter found the Brown Bears getting off 4 shots of their own, but the Lafayette’s outstanding goal keeper Hailey Abbott stood tall turning away all four. It wasn’t until 45: 53 that Brown finally broke onto the scoreboard with tipped shot off a corner by Stacy Lukasheva assisted by van Rootselar. The corner occurred as the Leopards were short handed due to a yellow card against Lineke Spanns.
The Leopards had 3 cards, two against Spanns and the Bears had one green. Lafayette had 34 calls against them as opposed to Brown’s 21. The grey, wet, and cold day just enhanced the contentiousnes felt on the field and in the stands.
Leopards will take their 10-2 record and put it against Penn State this Friday at 7pm.
Lafayette College Field Hockey 