Along with the anticipation of the new Kanye West and 50 Cent albums next week, Cornell students have something else to look forward to; field hockey.
After winning its first two matches of the season, the Red now has plenty of momentum as they go into important matches against Columbia and Penn in the next couple of weeks.
Over the weekend, the Red defeated Lehigh, 2-1, and then traveled to Lafayette and beat them, 2-0.
“That really gives us a lot of confidence,” said junior co-captain Belen Martinez. “We want to keep winning and playing as hard as we can.”
The Red plays its first Ivy game on Saturday against Columbia and the following week they have another Ivy game against Penn. Last year, the Red was successful against both teams, defeating Columbia 3-0 and Penn by a 2-1 margin.
One of the major additions to the team this season is the new incoming class of freshmen. Both Martinez and head coach Donna Hornibrook had great things to say about the freshman class at the beginning of the year.
“We really have a strong group of freshmen,” Hornibrook said, “It provides a lot of depth to the team.”
The incoming freshman class showed their strength against Lafayette as freshmen Catie de Stio and Kate Thompson scored the only goals of the game.
Thompson’s play was strong enough for her to be named Ivy League rookie of the week.
While the freshman showed off their stuff against Lafayette, the upperclassmen performed well against Lehigh with juniors Katlyn Donoghue and Alyssa DePaola scoring the two goals for the Red. The squad also out shot Lehigh 15-10 as seniors Abbi Horn and Natalie Appleton added assists. Junior Shannon Prescott started as goalie and made seven saves.
In the Lafayette win, the Red out shot Lafayette 9-3 and juniors DePaola and Martinez both had assists. Prescott and senior Lizzie Goldblatt shared the goalie duties this time, with only Goldblatt needing a save.
DePaola started off the season well, with an assist and goal in the Red’s first weekend of play. Her goal placed her in a tie for tenth all-time in Cornell goal scored records with fourteen. She was able to achieve this while only just starting her junior year.
DePaola got off to a great start her freshman year with nine goals and five assists including four game winners. However, she was not able to play as much during her sophomore year due to injuries. This year she hopes to continue her strong start and lead the Red to an Ivy title.
Right now, the Red is confident in their play and its chances of winning an Ivy Championship. Since there are no injuries to bog the team down this year, the Red can just play its own game and focus one game at a time.
“We know how hard we worked this summer,” Martinez said. “We hope that it will pay off this season. We are growing as a team with new people, new freshman, and new players and they fit into our style of play.”