All good things must come to an end.
Cornell’s field hockey squad (5-3, 3-0 Ivy) put a five-game winning streak on the line last night against the Syracuse Orangewomen (8-5, 1-1 Big East) and could not come up with a record-setting sixth straight win.
Syracuse’s outstanding goaltender, Audrey Latsko, recorded her second straight shutout and fifth career whitewash as the ‘Cuse tallied four goals to halt the Red’s tear at five straight wins. The streak is tied for the longest in school history with the 1988 team.
“We got outplayed tonight. I think we got outhustled, and I think that was the biggest difficulty in the game. They came ready to play,” head coach Michelle Tambroni remarked.
The Orangewomen came out of the gate strong and scored two goals in the first half, one from leading scorer Michelle Aronowicz and one from Michelle Marks. Marks also assisted on Aronowicz’s goal.
Cornell had a chance to score with a little over a minute remaining in the half but couldn’t slip the ball by Latsko. The Red was then awarded a penalty stroke, and again Latsko made a terrific stop on freshman Karleigh Burns’ shot.
“She [Latsko] is excellent. She does a great job in there, she really controls her own defense. She’s tough to get by, she’s just stellar,” Tambroni pointed out.
The Red began the second half strong, but was unable to convert on its three corners in the first ten minutes of the half. Cornell’s offense managed to get its shots off the corners, but still could not strike against the strong Orange defense.
Cornell actually outshot its opponent 6-5 after the intermission, but the Syracuse offense took advantage of its opportunities.
Becky Kohler scored 8:38 into the half, taking some pressure off the ‘Cuse defense. Emily Smith picked up the insurance marker late in the game. Laura Fitzpatrick assisted on both Kohler’s and Smith’s goals.
Senior goalkeeper Maureen Sullivan came up with eight stops in the game.
The loss marks the end of a four-game homestand for the Red, and leads into an important stretch of games over fall break, beginning with a crucial Ivy matchup against Harvard and then moving to the West Coast to face Cal-Berkeley and Stanford. However, Tambroni wants to use the loss as motivation for the road trip.
“I think it should fire them up. I think they don’t like this feeling right now, and they shouldn’t like this feeling right now,” she said. “Because nobody likes to lose.”
Archived article by Alex Fineman