The Cornell field hockey team came away with a solid split this weekend against Lehigh and Richmond, but it would have come home with nothing had it not been for the heroics of junior Ann O’Rourke.
In the opener at Lehigh, O’Rourke’s game-tying goal with five minutes left sent the game into overtime. Senior co-captain Ashleigh Snelson sealed the victory with her game-winning goal 13 minutes into overtime.
Lehigh started the scoring with a goal in the final seconds of the first half, but other than that sophomore goaltender Kaitlin Tierney stymied the Mountain Hawks, stopping 10 out of 11 shots.
Knotted Up
The Red remained scoreless until sophomore Karleigh Burns found an open O’Rouke to tie the game with five minutes left.
Overtime appeared to be rather one-sided. Lehigh played a man-up for five minutes after Cornell freshmana Stephanie Maher was ejected for pushing, allowing Lehigh to basically control both sides of the ball.
“They dominated us,” head coach Michelle Tambroni said.
But, in the waning minutes of overtime, Burns started a breakaway, feeding Snelson, last year’s leading scorer, whose rocket shot won the game for the Red.
“They were smart on game management this weekend. I am very proud of them,” Tambroni remarked. “This was their fourth game and our first. It’s not ordinary for us to go to overtime with them.”
The women next traveled to the University of Delaware to face off against Richmond for the first time in the history of Cornell field hockey.
This game was similar to the first, in that the Red found itself down a goal at halftime. Sophomore Lindsey Grace evened the score at 1-1, but the Red eventually fell behind the Spiders for good five minutes after the Grace goal.
The Red will conclude this three-game swing today at home against SUNY-Albany at 5:00 on Schoellkopf Field. Today’s game brings back bitter memories from last year for Tambroni.
“They beat us in an ugly game. I had a long talk with the freshmen about what this game means to us after last year,” she said, referring to the Red’s 4-2 defeat to the Great Danes.
The Red will then have the rest of the week off, but will return to action at home against Kent State on Sunday.
Archived article by Josh Vlasto