The Lafayette field hockey team (6-11 overall, 2-3 Patriot League) crushed the Colgate University Raiders 5-1.
Even with the win, Lafayette was eliminated from the Patriot League tournament for the first time – excluding the shortened 2020 season – since 2017. Despite their current late-season surge, the Maroon and White struggled too much out the gate and will not get the chance to avenge last year’s championship game loss as other teams clinched playoff berths before them. The four teams in the 2022 Patriot League tournament will be Boston University, American, Lehigh and Bucknell.
Lafayette’s first goal of the match came just under 10 minutes in when sophomore midfielder Lineke Spaans put a scorcher past Colgate’s goalie. Over the next 40 minutes, the Leopards embarked on a barrage of goal-scoring: freshman forward Hannah Findlay, as well as senior and fifth-year forwards Tara Hamilton and Molly McAndrew, respectively, each tallied a goal.
The Leopards’ defense remained a brick wall as freshman goalkeeper Raffi Fragomeni went largely untested. Colgate responded at 54:46 for what would be their only goal of the contest. The goal came from a penalty corner and marked the only shot on goal from Colgate.
Spaans then found McAndrew less than two minutes later, swiping away any potential chance of a comeback from the Raiders.
It was a truly dominant display from the Maroon and White as they had six times more shots than the opposing team (18-3, 12 of them being on target) and doubled their penalty corners (6-3).
“We moved the ball very well and attacked quickly when we had the opportunity to. It was one of our best games in terms of teamwork and execution,” McAndrew said.
McAndrew continues to lead the Leopards in total points this season, with 17. She also leads the team in goals, with seven. On a league-wide scale, McAndrew is eighth in the league in goals as well as in points. She is also seventh in shots on goal. Impressively, her 23 shots on goal have come from just 28 shots, for a shot accuracy percentage of about 82 percent.
“I don’t really think about [statistics] so much. I view it more as a product of a full team effort. I would not have the points and goals I have if my teammates did not help to set me up for success,” McAndrew said. “As for the shots on goal, I think part of the accuracy being high is because of the amount of training I have done for years. My teammates also set me up in opportune moments to have a good probability of ripping a shot on goal.”
Spaans leads the team in assists with seven. She has 15 points. Simone Hefting leads the team in minutes played, with 979. Lineke is 10th in the league in shots, eighth in shots on goal and fifth in assists. Hefting is third in the league in defensive saves and will be participating in the league’s All-Star game.
McAndrew said that the season has been filled with highs and lows, and they showed that they can compete with the best in the country, as when they beat #7 Princeton in overtime and took #4 Penn State to double overtime.
“It is disappointing in the sense that we did not successfully make the tournament, which is our goal every year. We fell short, and that definitely hurts,” McAndrew said. “I am going to miss Lafayette field hockey immensely, but I do feel ready to start my career and experience a new life. The lessons I learned here as a student-athlete will definitely guide me in the future.”
The Leopards travel to Worcester, Mass. tomorrow to cap off the 2022 season with an 11 a.m. matchup against Holy Cross.
