Field Hockey Faces First Ranked Opponent of Season

After coming off a three-game winning streak, the field hockey team lost two close games to Harvard and Colgate and must now regroup as it heads into an important face-off against No. 17 Albany (11-3, 2-0 America East), its first ranked opponent this season.
This isn’t the first time the Red (6-4, 3-2 Ivy) has lost two straight close games this season. After starting strong and winning its first three games of the season, the Red lost two straight overtime games against Penn and Rutgers. This time the Red lost in overtime to Harvard and then fell, 4-2, against Colgate.
After the two overtime losses to Penn and Rutgers, the players were adamant about not letting those losses hold them back and they feel the same way about these two losses to Harvard and Colgate.
“We should be able to bounce back well,” said senior co-captain Katie Bradshaw. “We’re really looking forward to the rest of the season and still believe that we will be successful.”
The first time, the team was successful after its two-game losing streak by winning the next three games against Yale, Holy Cross and Princeton.
This time, the Red will have a great test in its attempt to change its momentum when they face the No. 17 Albany Great Danes who are currently 11-3 on the season, with their only losses coming to then-No. 11 James Madison, then-No. 15 Louisville and then-No.11 Boston College. The Great Danes fell to Louisville and Boston College by scores of 5-1 and 2-1 respectively.
Albany’s biggest wins of the season came against then-No. 14 Indiana and against then-No. 10 Ohio in double overtime.
The Great Danes and the Red have mutually faced Colgate and Holy Cross this season. The Red was victorious over Holy Cross, 1-0, but fell to Colgate, 2-4, last Wednesday. The Great Danes have impressive victories over both Colgate and Holy Cross, 6-1 and 3-1, respectively.
The Red has yet to face a ranked opponent this season but its goals have stayed the same regardless of what team they face.
“Our goal is to focus on one team at a time and go out on the field and give our best effort,” said head coach Donna Hornibrook. “If we can learn from our mistakes and improve each and every game then we can become really dangerous.”
Junior attacker Abbi Horn echoed her coach’s sentiment of focus.
“We need to stay focused on what we need to do,” Horn said. “All season we’ve tried to focus on one game at a time and if we do that then we believe that we’ll do well.”
The Red has the advantage of staying in Ithaca during its next three games. However, the team has a 1-3 home record this season and has dropped its last three home contests. Ironically the squad has performed exceptionally well on the road, pushing its record to 5-1 after three-straight road wins.