NEW HAVEN, Conn. – The Cornell University field hockey team jumped out to an early three-goal lead and then held off a late comeback bid by Columbia to defeat the Lions, 4-3, at Johnson Field on the Yale University campus. The game was moved to New Haven due to flooding at Columbia's field hockey stadium. With the win, the Big Red improves to 4-3 overall and 2-0 in the Ivy League, while handing Columbia its first loss of the year as the Lions fall to 5-1 overall and 0-1 in the conference.
In goal,
Melanie Jue made four saves to get the win, while Gena Miller stopped six in the loss.
Cornell held the 14-9 advantage in shots and a 9-6 edge in penalty corners.
Horn continued her hot scoring streak as the senior got the Big Red on the board just 3:44 into the contest with an unassisted goal.
Less than three minutes later, Martinez tallied the first of her two goals on the day when Appleton collected a rebound off a penalty corner and fed Martinez, who made it a 2-0 advantage.
Neither of the teams cracked the scoring column for the remainder of the half and the Big Red carried the 2-0 advantage into the intermission.
The next seven goals of the game were scored in a span of 7:27 early in the second half, starting with a tally by Martinez off a penalty corner at the 41:20 mark to make it a 3-0 game. Appleton and Horn were both credited with the assist.
Just over two minutes later, Christine Buszczak tipped a shot by Megan Davidson into the goal, but Cornell answered right back when Kirnan took a pass from Brownstein and beat Miller to make it a 3-1 game.
The Lions finished the scoring with back-to-back goals by Maggie O'Connor and Ariel Leon at the 46:22 and 48:47 mark, respectively.
The Big Red turned up the offensive pressure for the final 20 minutes of the contest, hitting the post twice and forcing Miller to make four saves, but was unable to score again taking the 4-3 victory.
Cornell is back in action tomorrow as it stays overnight in the Nutmeg State to take on Fairfield in a non-league contest at 1 p.m.
