Sometimes a team can use a tight loss as motivation for future success. The women’s polo team took an important stride against the best team the nation has to offer last Saturday, falling to No. 1 UConn, 18-17. Despite this, Cornell still aims for a successful campaign.
Five games into the season, the Red has already defeated UMass, Virginia and Yale. After such a standout performance against UConn, head coach Dave Eldredge ’81 and the Red will look to use the near-win as additional momentum going into the remainder of the season. In order for the Red to find more success, according to Eldridge, it needs to continue to play at a high effort level.
“Our strength was our hustle,” Eldredge said. “Our speed was evident in our heart and realization that we could play with this team,”
And while effort can take a team a long way, the Red will also look to correct a few errors.
“Our weakness was a lack of capitalization on opportunities,” Eldredge said. “We have to improve technically to ensure we take advantage of chances, and this improvement is going to come in multiple areas.”
“If we put forward this type of effort game in and game out, we should become a force to be reckoned with on the national level,” said junior captain Ari Constant.
Against UConn, the visiting team constructed an 8-2 lead midway through the second chukker, before junior Erin Bold’s two pointer cut the lead in half and started the Red on a steamroll that would not simmer down for the rest of the contest.
Entering the third chukker down 10-7, the duo of Bold and twin sister Erin contributed three goals. In addition, Constant and senior Amanda Burns were nearly unstoppable in the third and fourth chukkers. They lit up the lamp and electrified the crowd a combined eight times in the final 15 minutes.
The score was 17-17 with under a minute to go when the visiting Huskies scored a questionable goal right in front of the officials. No foul was called, and the UConn women ended triumphant, 18-17.
“UConn is a three-time defending national champion, and this is our first year playing together, so we exceeded our own expectations tonight,” Constant said. “We would have loved to win, but this was an amazing loss.”
Along with the loss to UConn, the team also dropped an earlier contest against Maryland.