Field Hockey to Take On Albany

Field hockey is heading out for a midweek road trip to Hamilton, N.Y., for a match against Colgate. The match will begin tonight at 7 p.m. This out-of-conference match comes after a solid showing for the Red this weekend — defeating Yale 2-1 in an overtime victory and a shutout win over Lehigh. The Red is looking to continue its two-game win streak, and pick up their first victory on its opponent’s turf.
“It was a positive weekend for us, it was good for us to see that we can come out and win in a close overtime win against Yale, and follow that up with a solid win against Lehigh” senior captain Abbi Horn said.
Colgate has had a strong season so far, playing many out-of-conference matches with varying success. The team has really hit its stride recently, riding five straight wins going into tonight’s match against the Red. Colgate picked up a close win against No. 18 Albany, and went on to beat Lehigh 3-1 who the Red also beat this weekend.
The Red should be looking to capitalize on the momentum it got from a strong weekend at home as it goes on the road. The solid performance of sophomore Catie de Stio in the Red’s victory over Yale should help the team rally offensively coming into the game against Colgate.
“It’s definitely going to be a tough game, but we’ve been doing really well starting off strong, shooting often and scoring as many goals as we can,” de Stio said.[img_assist|nid=32524|title=Field vision|desc=Kelley Kantarian (16) and the Red will face-off with Albany hoping to keep its win streak alive.|link=node|align=left|width=|height=0]
Play will be competitive in this out-of-league match, but this all seems to be in head coach Donna Hornibrook’s grand plan. These tough out-of-conference matches get the Red ready for extremely tight Ivy competition, like the Yale game last weekend, and Harvard, which is two weekends away.
“It’s really great we’re playing tough teams, we’ve learned that we can play our game against all the teams, and create some team unity,” said de Stio.
The Colgate match should prove to be tight, but if the Red can open up play like it has been doing all season, it may be able to take the lead early. The key for the team is to keep that momentum going through the rest of the game.
“We have been doing a great job this season starting, but I think it’s important that we play 70 full minutes after setting the tone in those first five to ten,” Horn said.
The Red has been impressive so far this season; it is still undefeated in Ivy play and is looking to continue that streak against Harvard on Oct. 18. The Colgate game has historically been competitive, according to Horn, and she expects it to be close this year as well. This match should be a great warm up going into Harvard in 10 days.
“We know all of our Ivy games are going to be really tight, so its really good practice for us playing Colgate who is a really solid team this year,” Horn said.
The season is really starting to pick up for the Red, and with bigger conference rivals on the horizon it just needs to keep the momentum high. Tomorrow’s match against Colgate should be a thriller, but look for the Red to take the lead early and hold onto it until the end, picking up their first win on enemy turf.
“It’s one game at a time, and we’re going to take every game head-on,” de Stio said.