The Lafayette Field Hockey team (3-7 overall, 0-2 Patriot League) fell 2-1 to Bucknell University last Friday before defeating No. 7 Princeton 3-2 in double overtime.
Friday’s game was scoreless until senior forward and captain Molly McAndrew put the Leopards on the board in the third quarter, assisted by freshman forward Catalina Rubel. This was McAndrew’s third tally of the season, and the 28th of her career. Less than five minutes later, however, the Bison made the game even. Bucknell carried that momentum to go on to score the winning goal at 54:29.
Bucknell had eight consecutive penalty corners during the third period and held the advantage in total shots (16-11) and penalty corners (12-7) as they moved to a Patriot League record of 2-0.
“Our execution on attacking penalty corners against Bucknell was poor, and we need to improve moving forward,” McAndrew said.
“We could’ve done a better job capitalizing on our opportunities,” senior midfielder Felicitas Hannes agreed.
Freshman goalkeeper Raffi Fragomeni had a career-high nine saves in the defeat.
On Sunday afternoon, the Maroon and White traveled to Princeton and defeated the No. 7 team in the nation in a thrilling overtime win.
The Leopards showed no fear when facing one of the premier programs in the country. If anything, the loss against Bucknell two days prior seemed to have motivated the team.
“The mentality was to just keep going, to move past Friday’s loss,” McAndrew said. “We were going to play our hearts out and fight for a win no matter what, and that’s exactly what we did.”
“We were all really excited to be given the opportunity to face such a high-ranked opponent,” Hannes said. “We had a lot of energy, especially since we didn’t get the result we wanted in the previous game. We wanted to show that we can compete with teams like Princeton.”
Princeton got to an early lead, finding the back of the net 14 minutes in.
Senior defender Sydney Woolston opened the scoring for Lafayette at 36:17, recording her first-ever collegiate goal in the 52nd game of her career here on College Hill.
The Tigers were up 2-1 after converting a penalty stroke with less than three minutes left in the game. However, senior defender Simone Hefting found an answer just 15 seconds later to send the game into overtime. Her goal came off a corner and was assisted by sophomore midfielders Lineke Spaans and India Ralph.
Hannes sealed the deal in overtime after a beautiful passing sequence involving Spaans and McAndrew.
“The feeling was just electric,” Hannes said. “I didn’t even realize what had happened, but I was so excited.”
Fragomeni registered 10 saves on Sunday, surpassing her previous season and career-high count set just two days prior against Bucknell. Her achievements led to a Patriot League Rookie of the Week honor, as announced on Monday afternoon. Fragomeni currently holds a save percentage of .721 and 1.92 GA/AVG after facing 76 shots this season.
“Raffi made great saves the entire weekend, and helped us compete in both games,” Hannes said.
After a bumpy start to the season, the win against a team of Princeton’s caliber might just be the catalyst the team needs.
“At this point in the season, the team’s mindset is to keep moving forward and take one game at a time,” McAndrew said.
“[Coach Jennifer Stone] was really happy that we could experience this together, she was proud of how we competed together and as a team,” Hannes said. “I think this win has helped our energy shift in the right direction. We are ready to compete and show what we can do together.”
The season seems to have turned around for the Leopards as after starting the season 1-6, they have won two out of their last three games.
Lafayette will host rival Lehigh tonight at 7 p.m. before facing Richmond on Sunday.
